Reborn
by MrBlackCloud
Summary: A self-insert with a twist. The protagonist wakes up in the body of a child Naruto and decides to make the most of it. He starts out with good intentions, but you know what they say about the road to hell...
1. Prologue

**_Authors Note:_**

 ** _Hey guys, this is my first attempt at a fanfic, so please let me know how you think I've got on by leaving comments, whether you hate or love it! This prologue isn't really much of anything so I urge you to at least read the first chapter to get a feel for if you like the story or not._**

* * *

Dying sucked just as much as I thought it would.

Getting run over by a car probably doesn't rank too badly on the grand scale of all the ways you could die, but somehow staying conscious and being in excruciating pain before finally dying 20 minutes later in front of some poor paramedic definitely wasn't how I envisaged dying. Definitely not at the tender age of 24 either.

I'm not ashamed to admit that in my final moments I was pretty scared, I hadn't been mentally prepared at all for this and I was terrified of what was about to happen. Was there an afterlife? If there was, had I been a good person? Surely I hadn't done anything that warranted me going to Hell? Or was I just going into a void of nothingness?

Of all the possibilities I ran through in those final moments, the one that never even crossed my mind was the one that happened.

* * *

I woke slowly, my body feeling incredibly lethargic as I tried to blink away the last vestiges of sleep.

 _Wait, I'm waking up? Am I in a hospital? Or did I really make it to the afterlife?_

It certainly didn't feel like the afterlife. My body felt much weaker and, somehow, smaller? Like I had been shrunk in the wash.

Groaning, I rolled over and pushed myself out of bed. My vision was still blurry and I reached out my arm to fiddle with the light-switch. Disconcertingly, as my arm extended out to where the lamp should have been my fingers only grasped empty air.

 _Weird, maybe I'm in a hospital room after all?_

The room was too dimly lit for me to be able to make out much but it didn't really feel like a hospital. There weren't any machines or medical equipment, and I couldn't see any nurses or doctors walking around.

I tried to take a step forward, with every intention of finding out just what the hell was going on here, but my body felt strangely slow and uncoordinated and I ended up stumbling and falling to my knees. I reflexively placed my hand on the floor in front to brace myself, before freezing in shock.

The arm in front of me was pale white, and thin, too thin to be mine.

My heart was pounding, how could I not have noticed? Trying to fight the overwhelming feeling of panic I scrambled around on the floor, my hilariously uncoordinated body fighting against me as I dragged myself around the room, before finally finding a small bathroom and pulling myself up opposite the mirror with shaking arms.

Back at me, stared the face of a young Uzumaki Naruto.


	2. Chapter 1

The first few days were the hardest. Initially I alternated between being convinced I'd completely lost my mind to being racked with guilt at the very real possibility that I had somehow been reborn into Naruto's body. It seemed a weird thing to feel guilty about, considering Naruto was a fictional character in an anime...at least he had been in the world I'd left behind. No matter how I looked at it, if Naruto was no longer here or in control of his body then it was the same as murdering him. Except somehow worse.

Eventually I accepted that, however fantastical it seemed, I was now Naruto. I held out a small glimmer of hope that Naruto and I had somehow swapped places (and that I also had survived, contrary to what I'd thought at the time) but I didn't have any way to verify it. The day after that I spent in a state of near panic after recalling everything that Naruto had done in the anime, things that I now had responsibility for, such as dealing with the Kyubi and fighting Pain...or Madara.

 _Shit._

I could still be crazy to be fair, but there wasn't much I could do about that. Plus I couldn't just do nothing and assume I was mad. It seemed that something, somewhere, had granted me a second chance at life (even if it was by inhabiting the body of a child) and I had best make the most of it. Plus I did feel like I had a duty to the characters I'd watched so long ago. I couldn't just stand by and allow the world to fall to shit, and without Naruto there I'm sure it would, seeing how he was the protagonist of the show and all.

In fact, with my knowledge of the anime, maybe I could even improve things? A lot of people had died in Naruto who didn't need to if I played my cards right. People like Jiraiya, or….

Well my first problem was actually trying to remember everything. Yeah I'd watched the show but that didn't mean I remembered every detail. In fact if I wasn't careful I could very well end up making things worse. I didn't need that on my conscience.

Ok so first things first, I needed to make sure events stayed as similar as possible to how they were in the original story, while tweaking things here and there where I could. That meant I had to first get back on Kakashi's team with Sasuke and Sakura, assuming I wasn't with them already. Then from there I could start influencing events.

I frowned a bit as I thought of Sasuke. The Uchiha massacre was a pretty big event, but there was no doubt Sasuke would be better off if it never happened. But interfering with something that large...was it even possible for me to? From what I remembered it was a decision made by the village council, including Danzo and the Hokage. I didn't even know exactly where in the timeline I was, a quick search around my room didn't yield any ninja headbands, plus Naruto's face (my face) looked a bit younger than I remembered from the show.

Right now there were too many unknown factors. What I needed to do was find out exactly when I was in the timeline of the show, then I could come up with a plan for how best to proceed.

 _I think it's time I explore this new world of mine a little._

* * *

Over the past few days I had grown more accustomed to my new, smaller body, although I still had a tendency to trip over or bang into things if I was in a hurry. Going out into the village was pretty surreal, it looked identical to how it did in the show (I guess it would be weirder if it didn't). I didn't recognise anyone, but I experienced first-hand how the villagers treated Naruto. Reactions ranged from cold indifference to openly sneering at me and making snide comments. As a 24 year old who had already seen this in the form of an anime it didn't sting as much as it should, but it still didn't feel great. Especially in the vulnerable body of a child.

 _Seriously they're lucky Naruto turned out the way he did, he could have easily gone rogue or pulled a Sasuke and sweared revenge on the village for the way they've treated him._

As I kept walking around my frustration mounted, morphing into anger. Even though I was in Naruto's body I didn't have his memories, meaning I didn't know where any of the shops were or even what the buying power of the strange coins I had in my pocket was. Everytime I tried to ask someone for directions I was met with sneers and snide comments. One woman mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "monster", before quickly backing away when I snarled in response.

Watching it in the anime had been one thing, experiencing it for myself was completely different. It was all I could do to stop myself punching them in their stupid faces.

 _The Fourth Hokage gave his life defending this village. He sacrificed himself, his wife and his son to keep them safe and this is the life his son leads? I gritted my teeth as, possibly for the first time, the true weight of the sacrifice Minato had made and the reality of what Naruto had been put through really hit me. The Third Hokage is a worthless pile of shit to leave Naruto in this situation. He should have been heralded as a hero._

I had never liked Sarutobi, even just from watching the show. He seemed like the type who talked big but did nothing to back it up, he allowed Naruto to remain in this situation, he had stood by while Itachi had been ordered to kill his clan, he had allowed Danzo to operate with impunity as the head of Root…

 _I guess I don't have to save everyone who died._ I thought angrily, as I finally found myself outside what looked like the grocery shop.

After paying what I'm sure was far too much for basic groceries I made a beeline straight for Naruto's, no - my place before I heard a familiar voice.

"Hey Naruto!"

My eyes widened as I recognised the distinctive sound of Iruka's voice. It was weird hearing it in English, but it somehow carried the same inflection and tone.

 _This could be a good chance to pin down where I am in the timeline actually,_ I mused, before turning and painting a big smile on my face.

"Hi Iruka! I was just looking for you actually, did you want to spend some time catching up?" I tried not to wince at the childish sound of Naruto's voice. Wait, uh oh….Iruka was bearing down on me with his hands on his hips, and he looked pretty angry.

"Naruto….what did you just say?" He asked dangerously. I was starting to feel a little nervous.

 _Damn, was that too out of character? I guess I'll come across a bit strange since I'm not even really close to the original Naruto's personality. Or did I miss something obvious?_

"Iruka…sensei?" I ventured after doing some quick thinking.

His expression became less severe but he was still glaring at me.

 _I guess there was something else then._

"Naruto! Where have you been the last few days? Don't tell me you've started bunking off the Academy now?"

 _Ah right, that would make sense._

I hung my head slightly, avoiding Iruka's eyes. I couldn't very well explain to him that I'd been transported here from another world and needed a few days to come to terms with it.

"Ah, I've been feeling-" A bit under the weather is what I was about to say, before I cut myself off. It was inevitable people would realise something was different about Naruto, my personality just wasn't like his at all, plus I was much older than he had ever been even in the series. Still, best to avoid saying or doing things that made me stand out as much as possible. "-a bit ill the last few days, I think it was the ramen I ate." It sounded a bit weak but it was the best I could do on the spot.

Iruka actually seemed to buy it, softening a bit. I guess Naruto wasn't the kind of person to lie about getting ill?

"You should have said something, I was starting to get worried. Hey, if you're feeling better how about we go to Ichiraku's? I'll treat you."

I started at Iruka for a moment. After how the other villages had treated me, it was a bit of a shock to meet someone who seemed genuinely nice.

You're a good guy Iruka, I don't think Naruto would have made it without you.

I beamed at him, "Yes please! That'd be great, and we can catch-up on the way."

Iruka looked at me a little strangely before smiling back and replying,

"Ok ok, let's go. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Weeeeell…"

* * *

Hanging out with Iruka was pretty fun. I'd done a pretty terrible job of acting like Naruto and I could tell he thought something was a bit off but ah well, I still managed to get a lot of useful information out of him. Funnily enough his suspicions seemed to lessen everytime I said or asked something that made me seem clueless.

From Iruka I'd found out the following things:

\- Naruto at this point was 10 years old. I vaguely remember him being around 12 at the start of the series so that gave me a couple of years before I had to worry about anything major happening.

\- Today was a Saturday. Apparently ninjas use the same calendar we do, which was pretty handy. That meant I'd be back at the Academy on Monday which I was really looking forward to. Weirdly it had completely slipped my mind that the kids all learnt basic ninja techniques at school before graduating but now I couldn't wait to get started.

\- It seemed as though the Uchiha Massacre had already happened. I felt pretty guilty that a large part of me was relieved the decision had been taken out of my hands. I, like most fans of Naruto, had really liked Itachi after the big reveal in Shippuden but, as with the villagers, actually being here in the world had changed my perspective. He had murdered dozens of his clansmen at the age of 13, what kind of effect did that have on someone's psyche? What kind of psyche did he already have to be able to go through with it? Itachi was definitely someone to tread lightly around, but again that was years away.

\- Naruto was mostly useless at the Academy.

The last one was the one I intended to do the most about. I hadn't tried using chakra yet but I knew it was the basis for every single ninja technique in the series, including taijutsu. I definitely had to master it so that I could become as strong as possible before the series events really started kicking off.

Part of my plan was to use the Kage Bunshin jutsu. No one had felt the need to point out to Naruto how amazing this technique was for learning until Shippuden, something that is really inexcusable. If I could utilise it myself, I could massively accelerate my learning before the teams were picked in 2 years.

However I had 2 immediate problems. The first was I had no idea how to use the Kage Bunshin jutsu, or any jutsu for that matter. In the series Naruto had just made one hand sign for it and shouted the name but I had a feeling there was more to it than that, at least I kind of hoped there was more to it than that otherwise why did anyone even bother teaching the regular clone jutsu?

The second was that I wanted to be on the same team that Naruto had been on originally, but in the series Naruto had been put with them to balance out the top 2 in the class, Sasuke and Sakura, with the worst - me. If I wanted to guarantee the same outcome I'd need to be careful to not let on to anyone at the Academy. Deliberately appearing stupider irked me a little, but it was a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.

I grinned in anticipation as I kicked back in the little chair in the room. Time to experiment a little.

* * *

One thing I was kind of glad of was the lack of parental supervision. In my old life I had just moved out a year ago but I was already used to the independence that came with it. Inhabiting Naruto's body meant I could come and go as I pleased.

I wandered around, ignoring the glares and muttering of the villagers, until I found one of the green training fields that I remembered from the show. It was a completely open expanse of flat land which would definitely come in useful, but if I was keeping my training a secret I'd need to find somewhere most discreet.

I kept wandering around, finding a forest which I spent the good part of the afternoon exploring. Eventually I found the perfect spot, a small clearing that was cut through by a stream.

 _Perfect. I can use the trees and the water to work on my chakra control, and this deep in the forest I should be able to practise any techniques I want without being interrupted._

I made myself comfortable on a small rock and then closed my eyes. The first thing I had to do was figure out how to access and channel my chakra. I breathed deeply, focusing on the feeling of air expanding my chest as I turned my focus inwards. I continued this for a few moments, focussing more and more intently as I mentally reached out.

There! I thought with sudden exhilaration as I reached for my chakra. It was a strange sensation, it felt like a pool of energy that resided inside me, with hundreds of channels that siphoned it off throughout my body. If I focussed on individual channels I could follow them a little, but as soon as they started splitting off and becoming more complicated I completely lost track of them, the image becoming hazy in my mind.

 _I guess a chakra sensor would be able to visualise the channels more clearly, I thought, or somebody with something like the Byakugan. Well, I wasn't planning on becoming a chakra sensor so it didn't matter too much to me._

Once I had found it, accessing the chakra actually proved fairly simple, although I suspected some of that had to do with the conditioning Naruto must have already had by going to the Academy. I knew there were lots of people in this world that couldn't use chakra so there must have been some training involved with first developing and accessing your chakra network. By focussing my intent, I could reach inwards to the pool of chakra inside me and direct it as I pleased.

Well, as I pleased was probably too generous a term. Channeling my chakra felt like trying to use my hands on a high-pressure water tap. I could feel chakra splitting off to the wrong areas and seeping out of my channels as I tried to direct it to specific areas, then if I used my mind to shape it such that it went where I wanted, I lost my grasp on the control that I used to pull it out in the first place, resulting in huge surges of chakra that then dwindled to nothing as I tried to react and clamp down on the flow.

Clearly this was something that I wasn't going to solve in one day. But that was fine, that was what the next 2 years were for.

But wow, even with my poor control, the feeling of chakra coursing through my body was intoxicating. My muscles swelled and tightened like coiled steel and the world around me burst into vibrancy, colours and noises sharpening as my heightened senses drank them in. I breathed in deeply, releasing it as wild laughter as I savoured the feeling of the crisp, cold air rushing into my lungs.

 _Chakra is…..incredible,_ I thought, fully aware that I was probably grinning like a lunatic right now. I couldn't help it though, even the smallest taste made me feel stronger and faster than I ever had in my old life. Drunk on the feeling, another idea came to me.

 _I wonder what it would be like to do a jutsu?_

Originally I had planned to take it slow and see if I could either try some jutsu from the Academy or pick up some new ones from somewhere.

 _Naruto has a pretty huge chakra pool, and he even managed to learn the Kage Bunshin in what, a day? At the most? In the anime it was definitely within an episode, and I don't think too much could go wrong unless I tried something elemental._

Decision made, I brought my fingers together in the pose I'd seen Naruto do countless times.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

I picked moodily at the food in front of me as I sat alone in my room. My failed attempt at the Kage Bunshin had been a couple of days ago - evidently just shouting the words doesn't do much. After my initial rush of excitement at using chakra it had been pretty anticlimactic standing there waiting for something to happen.

I sighed as I leaned back in the chair, abandoning the food in front of me. This was to be expected, I knew that there had to be something more to casting jutsu than just the hand signs and the names, otherwise anyone could learn anything. Unfortunately the anime had never gone into detail about what went into actually learning new jutsu, and I had a suspicion the author himself had never thought too deeply into it. Most of the training was done off-screen.

So in that case had the world filled out the missing details from the anime? Or was it the reverse, and the author had actually written the series based on this existing world but hadn't included all the details? It was impossible to determine either way, although it did make me worry a bit that events wouldn't unfold the same way they had in the series.

Well, I could still work on chakra control, and then if any opportunities to learn how to use jutsu presented themselves I could seize that. It niggled at me that I couldn't start using the Kage Bunshin straight away, since I had seen from the show what a huge help that could be, but I'd only been here about a week. I had to be patient.

Today had been my first day at the Academy, which had been very interesting, if not for the reasons I expected. The curriculum actually included a lot of normal subjects, such as maths, science and geography, with the ninja bits mixed in. Whilst the standard subjects were easy for me as a 24-year old who was trying to flunk the class anyway, I was possibly even worse than Naruto was at the taijutsu we'd done. I was feeling pretty embarrassed around the 10th or so time I got planted in the dirt by one of the other kids, but nobody batted an eye.

I also got my first good look at my future teammates. It was easy to see why Sasuke was so well-liked by all the girls, even at 10 I could see that he was good looking and he was head and shoulders above everybody else in ability. Even in the non-ninja subjects I was impressed by how much he knew at just 10. He'd completely ignored my existence of course, but that didn't bother me too much. The time to get close to Sasuke would come later. Sakura was much how I imagined she'd be, clearly book smart but hopelessly obsessed with Sasuke. It would have been funny in any other situation but instead I just felt bad for Sasuke, after everything he'd been through with his family being murdered and being quite literally tortured by Itachi, he had to come back to school and put up with everybody obsessing over him.

 _You made the wrong choice Itachi,_ I thought to myself, _You've ruined your brother's life, in a way it would have been kinder if he had died along with everyone else that night. How could you do that to someone you love?_

But then again, who was I to judge? Itachi had grown up in this world, he had perspective I didn't. Perhaps he really had done the best he could under the circumstances. Sasuke certainly had grown strong, becoming one of the most powerful people in the world by the end of the show.

But whenever I saw Sasuke, all I could see was the crying boy who had walked in on the bodies of his murdered parents.

* * *

For the next few weeks I settled into a routine. I went to the Academy during the day, then in the evenings I would practice the ninja techniques I'd learnt and work on my chakra control. It was tiring, but being able to use chakra to bolster myself made a huge difference. In my old life, if I went to the gym and came back tired there was nothing I could do. In the ninja world, being tired just meant having to channel more chakra through myself to wipe away the fatigue.

I'd realised that my poor taijutsu was just as much a result of me not being used to my new body yet as it was a lack of muscle memory. But the more time that passed the more coordinated I became as I settled into my new skin. Sometimes it was difficult to tell, as I had to mostly practice alone after classes, but I felt as though my skills were improving. I was starting to be able to track the movements of the teachers and other kids, and at times I had to fight my natural reflex to block a move or counter attack. At times it was frustrating having to deliberately flunk, especially if I genuinely needed to ask a question or clarify something. A couple of times Iruka even dropped some not-so-subtle hints that I could speak to him if something was going on but hopefully he would attribute it to growing pains. The other kids by comparison were much easier to deal with, I mostly kept to myself and none of them made any effort to approach me. I remembered they had mostly been warned to stay away from Naruto but it made my life easier so I wasn't complaining.

After one particularly frustrating day where I just couldn't get the taijutsu sequence down I seriously toyed with the idea of getting some extra help from Iruka, or maybe even Sasuke. I quickly shot it down, however. Although I was getting impatient I had to remember I was only 10 years old, and I already was making much more progress than Naruto must have done. The risk of altering events so early was too big to take.

My patience paid off when about a week in I had a bit of a breakthrough moment with jutsu. Surprisingly the Academy didn't really teach much actual ninjutsu or genjutsu, preferring to focus on the theory behind them. I guess in a way it made sense, you wouldn't want to teach a five-year old how to shoot fireballs from their mouths, and it meant I wasn't as far behind as I assumed. The only kids who had clear ninjutsu were the ones from established clans, such as Shikamaru, Choji and Ino, who I recognised from the anime.

There were 2 components to casting jutsu; the way you channeled your chakra and the visualisation of the output. For example, for the basic Academy Henge jutsu, chakra was channeled to all of the pores surrounding the body, but it was kept just beneath the surface. Then, when the user cast the jutsu, the chakra was forced out of all of the pores all at once, surrounding the body of the user as smoke and forming a chakra construct around them as the user moulded the chakra into a physical form. The surface tension of the construct was held together by chaka that acted as a sort of cement, but if this cement was disrupted then so was the Henge.

The teachers hadn't gone into that much detail, but once they had explained the fundamentals in one of our jutsu classes it was easy enough to piece the rest together. Especially after I had taken a walk around the Academy and found a few books that outlined basic ninjutsu principles. I quickly devoured these and with a little practice I was able to perform a basic Henge, which I then promptly used to get into the village library to search for more books to fill the gaps in my knowledge. Whilst light on specific jutsu, the principles behind all 3 of the ninja disciplines (taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu) could be readily found throughout the village.

Genjutsu had similar underlying principles to ninjutsu, the main difference being that rather than moulding the chakra into something useful such as a physical manifestation, or a basic element, it was instead sent directly into the body of your opponent, where you manipulated the flow of chakra with your own to induce illusions. To me it seemed a bit like manipulating nervous impulses, although I wasn't sure how chakra correlated to the biological features of the body I'd grown up learning. It was quite a sneaky, subtle art, and one that I was quite tempted to pursue. In the anime Naruto had no aptitude for genjutsu due to his chakra control, but that might not be the same for me. I was a bit stuck for now though as none of the books covered how to cast a specific genjutsu, and I wasn't brave enough to start experimenting with placing hallucinations on myself.

One of the books I found provided an incredibly useful step-by-step method for improving chakra control. The first step was the tree walking exercise that I remembered Kakashi introducing and I'd made good progress on that. It was almost time to move onto water walking, but then the day after I'd decided to try it something happened at the Academy.

I was half dozing at the back of the classroom during a lecture on basic maths (seriously, if I could cast Kage Bunshin then at least I could do something productive) when there was a soft knock at the door, and a brown haired man walked in.

"Hello everyone, it's a pleasure to meet you all. I will be working as one of your instructors from today, my name is Mizuku."

I sat bolt upright, recognising him instantly as the man from the first episode of Naruto - the one who had led to Naruto getting the scroll that contained the secrets of Kage Bunshin.

I smiled predatorily he gazed around the room, his eyes briefly coming to a stop on me. Getting the Kage Bunshin jutsu was the final piece I needed, and now the stage was set.

* * *

From what I remembered, Mizuki had approached Naruto originally, lying by telling him he would pass the graduation exam if he stole the scroll from the Hokage. I didn't, however, want to wait the 2 years it would take until graduation, so I needed to steer Mizuki into action as soon as possible. Every day that went by without me getting that jutsu was a day wasted as far as I was concerned, now that it was within my grasp.

The biggest problem I had though was that I had no idea where the scroll was. Had Naruto known in the anime? Did Mizuki tell him? It was frustrating but I couldn't remember. For the first time since coming here I really felt the loss of not being able to just open up Google and lookup something I didn't know. I assume it was with the Hokage somewhere, and the old man liked to play grandfather to Naruto so there was a chance I could go there and ask him directly.

 _Mmmm, approaching the Hokage is dangerous. Especially if I don't want to let on too much about how I've changed,_ I mused. I didn't trust the Hokage at all, despite the show's attempt to portray him positively. If the man could stand by while a 13 year old Itachi was ordered to massacre his family, what would he do if he suspected something was wrong with the boy that Kyubi was sealed in? Even in the best case scenario I could end up derailing events far more than I wanted to.

Mizuki had to know where the scroll was if he'd asked Naruto to steal it. That was the best approach, manipulate Mizuki into telling me where it was and then let events unfold how they did last time.

I grinned to myself, if everything went according to plan then I'd be set for the next 2 years. Getting new jutsu was the next obstacle but I was confident there'd be a way to work through that.

* * *

I was in a pretty good mood as I strolled through the forest that evening. If I could whistle I would have, but unfortunately it seemed that neither me nor Naruto had that particular ability.

 _I think I'll leave the water walking for today,_ I decided, _I can start that after this whole Mizuku business is sorted._

As I walked, I suddenly heard what sounded like a voice through the trees. I tensed and quickly crouched, hiding myself in one of the bushes.

 _Who else would be out here?_

I channeled some chakra to my ears and waited, masking my breathing as I crouched perfectly still on the forest floor. After a few moments it became apparent that there was only one person.

 _Is he talking to himself? I suppose it could be someone out here training._

I hesitated briefly but there was really no reason for me to stay hidden. I was just walking through the forest, I hadn't even begun any training exercises yet. Drawing myself up I strode through the trees confidently until I emerged in another clearing.

There was a boy in the middle doing press-ups, probably close to my age. His black hair was hanging down in front, obscuring his facial features.

"300….301….302", each word was released explosively with every breath.

Something suddenly clicked in my head. _Could it be…?_

The boy looked up, and suddenly I was staring into the face of Rock Lee.

He looked pretty different to how I remembered him in the anime, he wasn't wearing his trademark green spandex uniform and his hair was much longer. As he stood, I noticed it was tied into a braid around the back.

"Hello there my friend! Please don't let me interrupt you, I was just performing my own training here!" He said exuberantly. I blinked, a bit taken aback by the force he put into his voice, and here I thought Gai was the one who'd influenced him.

This actually was a good chance though, Lee was at least a year older than I was, and I'd seen for myself the taijutsu monster he'd become under Gai's tutelage. If I played my cards right, this was also something I could benefit from. Lee also likely didn't know Naruto that well, I'd certainly never seen him around the Academy.

And anyway, I liked Lee.

I replied with a warm smile, "No problem. I actually came out here to do some training myself, don't suppose there's room for one more is there?"

Lee's face morphed from curious to shocked to excited so fast it made me feel dizzy,

"Of course my friend! I would be glad of your company! My name is Rock Lee" he thumbed his chest proudly.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto" I replied, trying not to laugh. In the old world you never met people like this, Rock Lee was full of energy. I held out my hand, "It's nice to meet you."

Lee seized it and shook it with such enthusiasm that I thought my hand might fly off. Luckily he eventually let go and fixed me with a serious look,

"What kind of training are you here for, Uzumaki Naruto? I'm afraid I will only be-"

"Whatever training you were doing is fine by me", I interrupted him, hand waving his concerns away. I could guess what they were, I knew Lee wasn't able to use ninjutsu or genjutsu. "And please, just call me Naruto."

Lee beamed at me and I laughed and smiled back, his energy was infectious.

 _I wonder why he's so friendly? Didn't his parents warn him to stay away….wait._

I was a bit startled to realise I had no idea who his family was. Were they ever shown in the show? If they were I couldn't remember. If he was an orphan I definitely didn't want to bring down the mood so early by asking. Well, it was nice to have someone who treated me like another human being.

"I didn't mean to interrupt Lee, please carry on your training and I'll go along with your routine."

"I was just attempting to beat my record of 500 push-ups. Now that you are here, I will aim for 600! And if I cannot do 600 push-ups, I will do 800 squats!"

I laughed a little nervously, "Let's do it."

Three hours later I felt like I was drowning in a pool of my own sweat. Since figuring out how to channel chakra, I'd forgotten what the sensation of pure, physical exhaustion felt like. I shot a look at Lee, I'm pretty sure he had passed out at some point but it didn't seem to stop him as he continued to do his squats.

 _Is this guy even human? Is there another species in Naruto I don't know about? Considering no one ever commented on Zetsu or Kisame's appearance I wouldn't be surprised. And they do have talking animals in this world..._

"Naruto."

I would have jerked if my body was physically capable of moving.

"Sorry Lee, did you say something? I was just….catching my breath." I replied, trying to angle my head to look at him better and failing miserably.

Lee was quiet for a moment, which already seemed out of character from the short time I'd spent with him.

"Naruto, I enjoyed training with you today, but I have something to confess to you." Lee sounded quite serious and I was starting to get a bit worried. Before I could reply he continued,

"I have no talent as a ninja. I cannot do ninjutsu or genjutsu. If you want to train with me I'm afraid I may only hold you back."

 _Hmmm, this is a side of Lee I haven't seen before._

"Lee-" I began but he cut me off, speaking quickly,

"I will become a ninja! No matter what! I'll prove that I can become a great ninja despite my shortcomings! Nothing in this world cannot be achieved if you are determined to work hard enough! But…" he trailed off slightly, "I'm worried that I may not be the best training partner."

"Lee," I spoke firmly, "I'm not worried about that at all. Even from the training we did today I'm already in awe of what you've accomplished. I wish I had even a fraction of the dedication you have, and I can tell already that you're going to be an amazing ninja. The most important thing is to never give up, never doubt yourself for a moment - and you'll continue to move from height to height." I paused for a moment as Lee looked stunned, then I figured it wouldn't hurt to throw in a little extra nudge, "Look at someone like Gai, he's one of the strongest Jounin in Konoha and he's a taijutsu specialist."

For a few moments after I stopped speaking it was silent, then Lee's eyes started welling up.

 _Oh boy…_

"Naruto!" He shouted, raising his arms to the sky, "You are truly a wonderful friend! I am very glad to have met you here, and I'd be honoured if you'd continue to train with me!"

"Well, I'm just happy that you're happy to have me along," I said smiling, "I'd get up and tell you properly, only I can't really move at the moment."

 _That went well,_ I thought to myself as Lee continued to gush, _It'll be nice to have someone else to speak to, even if he is a bit excitable, and hopefully once he starts with Gai I'll be able to pick up his taijutsu skills along the way. If everything els-oh my god...is he doing more push-ups?_

* * *

 _ **Authors Note:**_

 _ **If you've made it this far, thank you very much for taking the time to read the story! Please review it as I'd really appreciate any feedback I can get. The next chapter will be up tomorrow (11/06/2018).**_


	3. Chapter 2

_**Authors Note: Thanks very much for the feedback so far! It's great seeing what you guys think. I only hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last. Hopefully the next one should come out over the next couple of days.**_

* * *

Dragging myself into the Academy turned out to be a massive ordeal the next day as my body desperately protested against what I'd put it through. After we'd parted ways (when I'd been able to move again) I'd agreed to meet with Lee every other day to work on our taijutsu together. There was no way I'd be able to keep up with Lee's manic training regiment, but working with him was sure to have a big impact. Sasuke, whose skills I'd seen first hand in class, had been completely outmatched by Lee when they met in the Chunin exams. Once Gai started training him as part of team Gai it'd be even better, I wonder if I could get some of those leg weights?

Distracted by my planning as I walked to my desk, I didn't notice someone standing in front of me until I'd already bumped into them.

"Sorry," I said reflexively, before looking up and seeing none other than Mizuki standing in front of me. He looked pretty mad, his jaw clenched and his eyes sparking, but then a moment later the anger was gone, hidden as he painted that placid expression on his face that he wore to fool everyone. Was it just because I already knew he was a traitor that it seemed so obvious?

"It's no problem at all Naruto," he said pleasantly, his eyes flicking up and down me. I internally bristled but I didn't let it show on my face. I just looked up at him innocently until he moved on past me.

The lesson was actually quite interesting, as it went through the geography of the Fire Country, something I obviously wasn't familiar with. It wasn't anything that I couldn't catch up on later though and so I let my thoughts drift away.

I had already decided to approach Mizuki after the lesson today. It was a bit soon, as from his perspective we barely knew each other, but I was gambling on a couple of things that'd swing it in my favour. Firstly, I was pretty sure Mizuki hated me, which meant he was more likely to jump at a chance to screw me over. Second, I was a little kid, and no one expects anything devious from a kid.

My planning was interrupted again by a giggling from in front of me. Sakura was staring at Sasuke and twirling her pink hair in her hand. Sasuke actually deigned to turn around today, which was a bit of an occasion in itself, even if it was only to shoot her a look of pure disdain. She didn't seem to realise though, flushing and muttering something to herself.

I sighed mentally. I'd definitely have to do something about that once we were on a team together. If not for Sasuke's sake then for mine.

 _I wonder if that's her natural hair colour?_ I wondered idly, _Maybe I'll ask her, is there anyone else in this village who has pink hair? Is her mum's hair pink as well? Wait, does she have a mum either? The only person who I remember mentioning their mother is Shikamaru, and that was just to say he was scared of her._

I glanced over to where Shikamaru seemed to be in a perpetual state of half-dozing. A couple of weeks ago I'd decided to watch him for a whole lesson and I don't think he'd moved even an inch from his starting position. In a way I was impressed.

The rest of the lesson passed without incident and I seized the opportunity to lag a bit behind the others as they filed out. Once the classroom had cleared out I ran up to the front,

"Hey Mizuki-sensei, do you mind if I ask you something?"

He had looked a bit unhappy about being cornered by me, but I guess he couldn't blow his cover over something so small because he quickly covered it up with a smile and replied,

"Sure thing Naruto- _kun,_ I'm always happy to help. What's the matter?"

I didn't really like the way he emphasised the 'kun'. No doubt he thought himself the master of sarcasm, outwitting a 10-year old. Suppressing the urge to roll my eyes I instead adopted a more sombre demeanour,

"Well, the thing is sensei, I'm a little worried about the graduation exam." I bit down on my lower lip, trying my best to look worried. "I was wondering if I could talk to you about it?"

"The graduation exam?" Mizuki asked curiously, "But that's 2 years away for you, and they change the requirement year to year, what do you have to be worried about?"

I'd expected that, "I know it's just, I so badly want to be a ninja, and not just any ninja! I want to become the Hokage! The best ninja in the village! But I find it so hard to do the ninjutsu we do in class, I'm just worried I might not be able to get it in time," I figured this was as good a time as any to hang my head sadly, "Do you think there's anything you could do to help me out? Like a way to do jutsu better? Last week we tried the bunshin jutsu and I couldn't figure it out at all."

Mizuki hummed, "Why are you asking me Naruto, I would have thought you'd be more comfortable with one of the other teachers here?"

I frowned, I assumed he'd jump at the chance to set me up with the forbidden scroll. Maybe he just didn't want to look suspicious himself?

 _Be careful how you respond here._ I felt a bead of sweat trickle down my back, _You need him to tell you about that scroll, but you can't come across too strong otherwise you may spook him._

I replied carefully, mumbling my words to give the impression of an embarrassed 10-year old, "I'm embarrassed to ask one of the other teachers. All the other kids in the class don't seem to have any problems. Shikamaru can already cast that shadow thing! I'm the only one who's struggling so much…." I let my voice die out.

 _Come on, take the bait,_ I thought intently, _I need that scroll, and I need to be able to come out of stealing it by blaming you._

Mizuki looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, then he shook his head.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I think the best thing for you now is to focus on practicing. You have plenty of time until the exam, I'm sure if you try your best until then you'll be able to pass." He nodded to me and turned to walk outside. I stared dumbfounded after him,

 _Fuck, what did I do wrong?_

* * *

I'd thought for sure that Mizuki would tell me about the scroll straight away, or at the very least hint about its existence. I didn't think he'd turn me down outright! Was it too early? Did I spook him by approaching him first? I gritted my teeth in frustration as I thought it round and round. I also had a slight feeling of doubt creeping up inside me. If the events of this timeline differed from the series then was Mizuki even a traitor in this world? If he wasn't, could I be sure of anything else? It was strange in a way, that in my old world where I hadn't known what was going to happen it hadn't bothered me at all, but since coming here the thought of not knowing the future scared me.

 _This world is a lot more dangerous than the one I left behind. And I'm a lot more pivotal than I was before._ My right hand drifted over the seal on my stomach. I hadn't given the Kyubi too much thought since I'd arrived. I remembered that Naruto had eventually made friends with it but I had no idea what he had said or done to win its trust. When I had first started doing my chakra control exercises I had focussed on the feeling of the chakra, seeing if I could separate the red from the blue, but as far as I could tell the chakra was all my own. Of course, I was 2 years younger than Naruto had been at the start of the series, so it was possible that the Kyubi couldn't manifest as much now as it could in the future.

I shook my head vigorously, _Focus._ Mizuki was the immediate problem here.

 _Ok, let's go through what I know. I know that there is a scroll somewhere in the Hokage's possession which contains instructions for the Kage Bunshin jutsu - which I need. I know in the original series Mizuki told Naruto about it to try and frame him for stealing it, and that Naruto must have been able to get it without too much difficulty. I tried to approach Mizuki 2 years before he approached Naruto originally, and got shut down._

I snatched a pencil from the desk, jamming it in my mouth as I began to chew. In my old life it had helped me think.

 _The only bit of information I'm missing is where exactly this scroll is. I could ask someone else, but I don't know how forbidden this scroll is. Is it something that I could have found out on my own? The first episode made it a pretty big deal that Naruto had stolen the scroll, but he was forgiven when it turned out Mizuki had set him up._

The cogs were spinning in my head.

 _In the anime, Naruto didn't know Mizuki was a traitor. It was only by luck that Iruka found him and found out what had happened. If I can just get the scroll, I can blame Mizuki myself, and if he's still a traitor I should be able to get away with that. Either he'll panic and reveal himself, or he must have something incriminating hidden away somewhere that would be turned up in an investigation. Come to think of it, they have mind reading jutsu in this world, so if there was enough suspicion on him that should give it away instantly. In that case, the only real thing I need to do is get the location of the scroll, then afterwards I can blame it on Mizuki no matter what happens._

I bit down on the pencil harder. If it was just about getting the scroll I might be able to do that even without Mizuki. However, pushing for this now definitely carried a lot more risk. If I was willing to wait there was a chance he'd approach me again himself, or another opportunity to prod him might present itself. Was it worth running the risk now to get one jutsu?

 _You need to be stronger,_ a soft voice whispered at the back of my mind, _you're not Naruto, there's no guarantee you'll survive all those situations the same way he did. You know what's coming, you need to be prepared for it._

I exhaled explosively. That was the crux of it, I was scared of what was to come, and the only way I could deal with that fear was by becoming as strong as possible. Waiting wasn't an option, especially if it was going to be a 2-year wait. Despite the progress I'd made over the past few weeks, from what I'd seen of Sasuke he was still far ahead of me. And that was before even throwing in the Sharingan.

 _And I'm not going to let you leave Sasuke. I won't let you go through what happened in the anime._ Naruto may have failed to stop Sasuke leaving, but with what I knew it was my responsibility to ensure that didn't happen this time. Yes it had worked out in the end, but how many needless deaths could have been avoided? I liked Sasuke, I didn't want him to suffer when I could help him avoid it, and in a way I admired him. I had to admit I don't know what I'd look like on the other side if my family had been murdered by my brother, then replayed in front of my eyes forcibly for hours on end.

The worst case scenario if this didn't work out was that I derailed events to the extent that I didn't get put on Kakashi's team, or ended up with a different team. Not exactly life-threatening, but it could definitely put me in a tricky position to start changing things going forward.

I flicked the pencil out of my mouth, feeling no small sense of satisfaction as it landed perfectly in the cup.

 _The risk is worth it._

* * *

I smiled to myself as I moved through the forest. We weren't supposed to meet today but Lee was predictably in the same spot as last time

"391…392...393", each word was accompanied by a thudding noise.

 _What's he up to today?_

I strode into the clearing, hand held up in greeting,

"Yo! Lee how's it goin-" I ducked to narrowly avoid a wood splinter that came rocketing towards me.

Lee turned from the tree trunk he had been facing, his face glistening with sweat. When he saw me he broke out into a huge smile.

"Naruto! Were you as unable to resist the allure of training as I was? You're of course welcome to join me again tonight!"

I tried not to stare at the tree trunk, which looked like somebody had taken a drill to it.

 _Maybe I should have asked someone else. Sakura would have been a good choice...or Ino._

Resigning myself mentally I replied,

"Actually Lee, I was kind of hoping you'd help me out with something tonight."

I'd barely got the words out before Lee jumped in enthusiastically,

"Of course Naruto! I'd be happy to help you with your training!" He started welling up a bit as he thrust his arms in the air, "Thank you for choosing me!"

I chuckled, "Thanks Lee, I knew I could count on you." He looked like he was about to shout something again so I quickly moved on, "I'm not sure how long this'll take, but hopefully it should be good training for both of us."

I shifted position slightly, bringing my hands together in a seal position.

"Lee...I want you to hit me as hard as you can."

* * *

 _I definitely should have asked someone else to help,_ I thought ruefully. The various aches and pains around my body had merged into a constant dull ache, but at least this time I was still able to move.

I jumped from rooftop to rooftop, trying to move as stealthily as I could. It probably wasn't necessary, especially if my plan worked how I expected it to, but the thrill of learning to be an actual ninja still hadn't worn off. The feeling of moving so fast through the night air was exhilarating, and with the amount of chakra in my legs I felt like a superhero everytime I pushed off.

Of course, with my chakra control still coming along I had a few kinks to work out.

 _There goes another tile,_ I thought guiltily as I channeled too much chakra down to my foot again, exploding the tile underneath me as I pushed off. Hopefully there was some sort of equivalent of home insurance in this world, _Unless it's the shopkeeper's house...then I hope his damn roof caves in._

It didn't take me long to arrive at my destination. I dropped quietly down onto the balcony, my heart thudding in my chest as I stepped lightly over to the door.

 _You've committed to this, don't get nervous now._ I swallowed my fear as I reached out and knocked firmly on the door. Almost immediately there was a flurry of movement from the apartment beyond and I tensed, readying myself for an attack. Long moments went by before the door cracked open and I was standing face-to-face with Mizuki.

"Good evening, it's rather late, how many I help you?" He asked, looking suitably confused.

I grinned underneath my mask. _Stage 1 complete._

"You are Mizuki, correct?" I asked, stepping forward. He didn't back away but his eyes did narrow slightly.

"That's right, although I would have thought an ANBU agent knocking at my door would already know that."

I leaned in close, my muscles wound up like coiled springs, and whispered to him,

"Orochimaru-sama sends his regards."

Mizuki's reaction was instant, if I hadn't already been expecting it his punch might have taken my head off. As it was, I just managed to whip my arm up in time to take the impact. It was likely just a probing blow but it still had enough force behind it to rattle me, despite the extra chakra pumping through my arm.

I gritted my teeth in intense concentration, trying to maintain the appropriate physical tension in my arm whilst also focussing on the chakra that surrounded me, forming the Henge.

 _Focus….focus...everything falls apart if the jutsu dispels._

Tense moments ticked by, I was glad I had the mask otherwise the scrunching of my face would have given me away for sure. The brow of my forehead felt damp with sweat and chakra was pumping through me with such pressure that I was half afraid he'd somehow hear it.

Several more moments went by, then as nothing happened I felt the pressure lift on my arm as Mizuki lowered his fist and stepped back, pushing the door open and inclining his head.

"My apologies, I had to be sure."

I just nodded, not trusting myself to speak yet, as I stepped in over the threshold and into his apartment. My heart was still pumping painfully in my chest but with it was a huge surge of relief.

 _Stage 2….complete._

Something I'd noticed when reading through the books on ninjutsu principles is that the authors made a lot of assumptions about the amount of chakra the average person had available to them. For example, the Kage Bunshin jutsu was considered forbidden not because of its utility but because of the amount of chakra it took to produce. A standard Bunshin was basically just a bubble held together by threading chakra all throughout the surface. If someone disrupted the surface tension by popping it, the jutsu dispelled. Since so little chakra was used to create the thin layer and it was so easily dispelled it was generally considered pretty useless amongst ninja. The Henge jutsu was effectively the same principle, except instead of forming the bubble on its own you formed the bubble around yourself. The Henge sat around the user almost like a blanket, but it was dispelled just as easily as the Bunshin jutsu.

There was a key difference between the Henge and the Bunshin jutsu though, with the Bunshin jutsu once it was created the user was effectively cut off from it, other than a very small chakra link that allowed the user to control it independently. The link was fragile though and only thoughts could be transmitted across it. With the Henge jutsu, as the bubble was still in contact with the user it was possible to keep transmitting chakra to it.

The author of the book I'd read on the topic had dismissed it out of hand, stating that the jutsu was impractical in a situation where you'd be under heavy scrutiny. Whilst it may not take much chakra to form the basic Henge bubble, if you wanted to maintain it even when hit you'd have to pump out a disproportionate amount of chakra to both maintain and reinforce the bubble at the point of impact. If you were in a situation where you needed to put that much chakra into a disguise, the author had written, it'd be better to conserve your chakra for combat jutsu, or to have taken in a physical disguise rather than relying on a chakra construct. Chakra outside of the body was surprisingly fragile, which is why ninja had to convert it into other forms for use in fights, rather than just throwing pure chakra at each other.

At first I had been a little surprised to read the author's take on it, since in the anime no one ever seemed to have any real issues with chakra. But in the anime I was only seeing the top tier fighters, the people who were literally on top of the ninja world. I couldn't remember the ratio of Genin to Chunin to Jonin but I wouldn't be surprised if most people never made it past Chunin based on what I'd read.

My plan of transforming myself to approach Mizuki wouldn't have worked if it wasn't for Lee. We'd spent several hours yesterday evening practicing. I would cast a Henge and he would hit me and I'd try and reinforce the jutsu with the right amount of chakra to keep it from dispelling. Too much or too little resulted in the jutsu dispelling, as the Henge would either collapse inwards or explode outwards based on how much I pumped into it.

We'd also tried whilst sparring, but that proved almost impossible. Fighting whilst also concentrating on the Henge, trying to predict where Lee would hit and regulating my chakra output to that spot was too much to think about all at once. Luckily Mizuki hadn't gone that.

I glanced around the darkened room as Mizuki closed the door behind me, moving swiftly in front of me. I reached up and removed my mask, his eyes widening as he saw my face, and he dropped to one knee, bowing his head deferentially,

"What does Orochimaru-sama want from me, Kabuto?"

 _Perfect, he has seen him._ I wasn't sure if Kabuto was working for Orochimaru at this stage, if he hadn't recognised me I'd have to hope he'd trust a nameless henchman enough to follow his orders. I hadn't even been sure coming here if Mizuki himself was working for Orochimaru but it seemed a pretty sure bet that if weird things were going down in the village he was somehow tied to it.

I couldn't remember Kabuto well enough to transform into him perfectly, but luckily in the darkened room and with the ANBU outfit covering most of my body it seemed I had done a good enough job.

"I have some new mission parameters for you," I had thought hard about how to approach this, as I had to be careful I didn't appear contrary to whatever mission he had already been given, "It concerns the Scroll of Sealing that is currently in the Hokage's possession."

Mizuki frowned slightly, "The Scroll of Seals?"

 _Oops._ I carried on talking like he hadn't said anything,

"Is it true the Hokage is planning to relocate it?"

"I-I hadn't heard anything about the scroll being relocated. Last I heard it was still secured in the west sealed room in the Hokage's mansion."

I had to swallow a triumphant smile. _Jackpot. Mizuki you almost made this too easy._

"We have received information that the Hokage is planning to relocate the scroll to a more secure location, along with several other items. Orochimaru-sama would very much like to receive the scroll before that happens."

Mizuki opened his mouth, looking worried, but then seemingly thought better of it and closed it again.

 _Is he worried I'll ask him to steal it himself? I guess there was a reason he picked Naruto before._

"I will arrange for the scroll to be taken by an unwitting party," I said, noting how he seemed to relax, "This individual will meet up with you, after which you are to kill him and retrieve the scroll. Once you have cleared Konoha, you will be contacted against with instructions for where to proceed next."

Mizuki nodded his understanding, "I understand, Kabuto. I am glad to be of service to Orochimaru-sama. Where and when will I need to be to retrieve the scroll?"

I slipped a scroll out of my pocket and dropped it down next to him.

"Make sure you memorise the contents of that scroll before you dispose of it. It contains all the information you need."

I reached up to replace my mask. With the training yesterday and the amount I'd exerted to maintain my Henge I was actually getting quite tired. I almost muttered good luck as I turned to go but caught myself at the last second. Some old habits were dangerous.

I launched myself back up into the night, heading straight back to my apartment to sleep and release the jutsu.

 _I'll have to thank Lee when I next see him. For now though, I think it's time I visited the Hokage._

* * *

"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten I existed, Naruto." The Hokage smiled down at me.

 _He does come across quite grandfatherly, I can see why people trust him, especially Naruto who had no other family or friends._

I shifted a little uncomfortably as I tried my best to hide my unease from the Hokage. I knew it didn't make sense logically, but every time I looked at him I couldn't help thinking of Itachi.

 _Would he kill me, if he thought it was for the good of the village?_ I looked back into his murky brown eyes. They were looking at me kindly now, but what else had those eyes seen? I'm sure he must have killed children in his time.

Suddenly aware that the Hokage was waiting for my answer I smiled sheepishly,

"Aah I'm sorry ol-Hokage," Dammit what did Naruto call him? He said jiji in the anime but the subtitles came up as 'old man' which seemed pretty rude. I'd clearly said the wrong thing because he frowned in disappointment,

"Has something happened Naruto? You always used to call me grandfather. Are you feeling upset about something?"

 _Damn. Stupid subtitle translations. Now he knows something is up, I was just planning on chatting to him for a bit before I get the scroll. Actually...this could be a good opportunity to cement my cover story._

Thinking quickly I replied, "Sorry grandfather, I've just had a lot on my mind recently. One of the other kids told me about the graduation exam and I'm really worried about it. What if I don't pass? Does that mean I can't be a ninja?"

The Hokage arched an eyebrow in surprise,

"For the Academy? My boy you shouldn't be getting worried about that at this stage, you have plenty of time to practice before then." He reached out and ruffled my hair, which actually felt kind of nice, "Iruka told me you'd been acting a bit distant recently, is this the reason why?"

 _Yeah I figured he'd be thinking that._

"I've just realised that if I want to be Hokage I have to work a lot harder than I have been recently." It was a half-truth, I did need to work harder.

The Hokage smiled sadly and replied, "Well don't be in such a hurry to grow up Naruto. Your childhood is important too, it's what gives your dreams for adulthood. Be sure to cherish it."

 _I'm sure Sasuke would have liked to have had a childhood too._

I smiled gratefully at the Hokage, "Thank you grandfather."

He nodded, then glancing at the clock he said, "I have to attend to something now Naruto, I trust you can let yourself out?"

I nodded innocently.

* * *

 _A scroll that Orochimaru wants should not have been this easy to get._

I rolled it up tightly, standing up and securing it tightly on my back. In a way reading the Kage Bunshin had been rather anticlimactic, it took me about an hour to get to the stage where I was confident enough to practice without following the scroll's instructions. The jutsu itself was quite straightforward, what made it dangerous was that it was very easy to kill yourself if you didn't have enough chakra for it.

 _And now - the final stage._

I was pretty sure that I had tripped at least some kind of intruder seal on my way out. It was a little weird how light the security was actually preventing people from stealing stuff from the room but I guess they figured nobody untrustworthy would have been able to get into the Hokage's in the first place?

It was still lazy, but it benefited me so I wasn't complaining. If a bank like this had existed in the old world it would have been robbed blind before they had time to blink.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A clone poofed into existence next to me, and we shared identical grins before I spoke,

"You know the plan then?"

My clone nodded,"Go to Iruka and show him that we can do the Kage Bunshin jutsu, then tell him Mizuki told us if we mastered it we'd be guaranteed to become a ninja."

"Let's do it then."

My clone did a mock salute then jumped off back towards Konoha. I shook my head, the jutsu was absolutely amazing, but it was kind of bizarre having a conversation with a copy of myself. A copy of myself that followed orders.

"So they got you to do it did they?" a voice laughed above me. I jumped, leaping backwards and crouching down in a taijutsu stance. There was a blur and Mizuki was in front of me, grinning nastily.

 _He's early! I didn't even see him move, if he came at me like that to attack I wouldn't be able to react._

This wasn't good, I had planned for Mizaki to arrive a bit later once Iruka and the rest of the ANBU were about to jump in. I had only just sent my clone off, I needed to play for time.

"Mizuki-sensei! Does this mean I can become a ninja now?" I tried to edge backwards but he started stalking towards me,

"Why yes Naruto, it does. You've just got to hand over that scroll now and I'll make sure the Hokage himself knows how well you've done."

"O-ok," I slowly reached back to release the strap securing the scroll in place, using the time to think,

 _I know he's going to try and kill me either way because that's what I told him to do as Kabuto. I just need to buy enough time until Iruka gets here with reinforcements._

I glanced at Mizuki's feet, they were pointed towards me, showing he was obviously standing ready to strike, and with how much faster he was than me he'd probably close the gap before I could do anything.

 _I need to say something to catch him off-guard. I only need time for one hand seal. For the one jutsu that I know._

"Hey, Mizuki," I said quietly. His manic grin faded a little at my sudden change in tone. I forced my lips into a relaxed smile,

"The Hokage told me you were working for Orochimaru, we've been setting you up."

His eyes widened in shock, and in that split second my hands came crashing together.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Four other clones poofed into existence around me, leaping towards Mizuki and shouting. I launched myself backwards, falling back into a defensive stance and-

There was a sudden, green blur and searing pain erupted from my abdomen. It spread across my front as if I'd been set alight and my body sagged. I tried to gasp but when I opened my mouth I could just hear a wear, choking sound.

Shaking, I slowly looked down towards the kunai Mizuki had buried into me. His mouth twisted in anger, he yanked it out and blood sprayed around, the metal of the blade glinting crimson.

"Monsters like you don't deserve to live," he spat. My vision darkened and I felt myself crash to the floor.


	4. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note: As always a massive thank you to everyone who's left a review! They quite literally sustain my motivation to keep writing. This chapter is a little shorter than previous but I wanted to get it out. What I'm thinking is the next chapter will cover the 2 year time gap, likely in sequences as I'm not planning on going through every single friendship/bit of training the MC does in that time period (unless that's something you want to see? Let me know if it is).**_

 _ **To address a couple of points people made:**_

 _ **\- The reason the MC didn't make 1000 shadow clones against Mizuki is firstly because Naruto in the anime was hella pissed when he did that and I don't think it's the kind of feat he could just repeat whenever. From my memory of the show he certainly didn't make that many shadow clones again in any of the other fights he had for ages. Secondly, he had only just learn the jutsu roughly, and was planning on perfecting it later in his own time.**_

 _ **\- As a general point on the actions of the MC, he is by extension me, and so his thoughts reflect mine. If I was dropped into Naruto I'd definitely want to rush learning Kage Bunshin as it's learning potential is super OP and useful. I'm also quite fond of Sasuke, but as you'll see in this chapter things may change a bit regarding that (:**_

 _ **\- NotosK good catch with the Bunshin! That was a mistake on my part, I forgot they were immaterial. I will go back and revise the explanation in that section at some point.**_

* * *

I felt as though I was hovering on the edge of consciousness, drifting in and out of awareness. Broken images fell all around me, but whenever I tried to focus on one it shattered and I fell into darkness again.

I dreamed of my old life, and I was struck by just how much I missed it. I had friends, family, a career, what must those who I'd left behind be thinking now? Did they still think of me at all? Once I'd accepted my new life here I'd buried those feelings deep but it was only now that I realised they had never really gone away, I'd just forced them deep inside me and focussed on what I thought I had to do here, in this life.

 _What I thought I had to do…but is it actually what I want?_

I'd felt a responsibility to those who I'd seen in the anime; to correct the things Naruto had done wrong, to save those he couldn't save, to save the same people he had, but was that really my cross to bear?

 _I almost died in my rush to get stronger, because of what I felt I had to do. I still want to get stronger, but I can't live the rest of my life in Naruto's shadow. If I hadn't woken up in this world I would have died in the old one, if this is my second chance then shouldn't I take it? Is it selfish of me to want to live the rest of this life how I do?_

I stirred, feeling a dampness against my cheek. It was strange to feel physical sensation after so long, but at the same time the feeling felt strange, different but somehow nostalgic. With a huge effort of will I forced my eyes open.

The room, no the chamber, was dimly lit. I was lying on my side in a shallow amount of clear, blue water. I went to push myself up and then froze as I saw my reflection.

The face that stared back at me was my own. Not Naruto's, but the face of the person I thought I'd left behind. Black, messy hair framed a tanned face and light brown eyes. I pushed myself up and stood at my full height, looking at my arms and hands in wonder.

 _Where am I? Have I gone back to my world?_

" **So you finally deign to come visit me jailor."** The deep voice boomed out from behind me, and I spun around in a panic, falling back into the water as I saw what was behind me,

Huge, towering bars blocked off a section of the chamber, a circular lock set into the middle section. The other side was covered almost completely in darkness, but it was illuminated by two gleaming red eyes that glinted maliciously as they looked at me.

 _This….this is the Kyubi,_ I thought, swallowing as I got shakily to my feet, _It's huge….even one of its eyes has gotta be at least twice as big as I am!_

In the darkness the beast shifted position, sending waves throughout the shallow water as it did. In the poor lighting I could only just barely make out the outline of a huge body as it breathed, its fur ruffling as it did. The Kyubi breathed out as I felt hot air blast me, strangely unscented.

"Jailor?" I tried to ask casually, "Why do you call me that? Did you bring me here to speak with you?"

There was a boom like a thunderclap and I was thrown down on my back again from the concussive force. Eyes wide open in fear, I just caught the flash of something huge and red retreating back into the darkness. When it spoke it sounded like the distant rumbling of thunder,

" **I? I called you here? You came here of your own accord, pitifully, seeking my power. Do NOT play ignorant with me mortal."**

I got up again shakily. I was nervous, but the bars seemed to be holding firm. The Kyubi shouldn't be able to reach me here, and as far as I remembered it wasn't able to start escaping from its cell until Shippuden.

 _Is that why that side is in darkness? I'm pretty sure Naruto could see it more clearly in the series. Or is it something that I did?_

"You don't seem to be surprised by my appearance," I said, choosing my words carefully. The Kyubi gave a low growl in response,

" **What does name or face or even sex matter to me? All that remains is I am bound inside of you. I, the strongest of the tailed beasts, am trapped inside a worthless insect like you."** The glowing red eyes seemed to narrow in cruel amusement, " **But for how much longer...I wonder."**

I narrowed my eyes, my confidence coming back as it became clearer that the Kyubi couldn't really do anything to me other than grandstand.

"Is that meant to be a bluff? I know you can't escape that cage, the fact that I'm talking to you right now is proof of that," I remembered what he'd said at the start, "And I certainly didn't come here seeking your power."

Disturbingly, the Kyubi chuckled before replying, " **Aah but you did. Whether you intended to or not, your body reached out for me. You were wounded recently, were you not?"**

My arm reflexively twitched towards where the kunai had entered my chest. I reigned the impulse back in but the Kyubi noticed and he laughed cruelly,

" **Foolish, foolish! Yes your body sought me out, you needed me, and my chakra, to survive, and you'll need me again! And everytime you seek me out for my power, I'll come ever close to devouring you and escaping this accursed place."**

"Sorry to disappoint you Kyubi but that won't be happening. That's cool if you saved me this time but trust me I won't be making a habit of it."

" **You say that now but I am not blind, jailor. I have seen your fear, your despair, your longing for strength. I have** _ **tasted**_ **it. You will seek me out, whether it be in a day or in a year or more. You will realise that you are weak and I am strong and you will come crawling to me for the power to do what you cannot."**

 _How did Naruto deal with this?_ The Kyubi was inhuman, I could almost feel the rage and hatred cascading off of it. _It's like if somebody had given rage a form._

Before I could formulate a reply, the red eyes vanished, leaving the Kyubi's side of the cage in darkness.

" **I grow tired of this distraction. Leave me now, but I expect we'll meet again."**

I could hear a distant voice calling my name. I tried to take a step towards the Kyubi but a vacuum-like force seized me, dragging me back. The cage and chamber blew away like sand in front of me, and I was hurtling through darkness once more.

* * *

I stirred again. This time I felt warm, something heavy was draped over the top of me, cocooning my body. Firm hands gripped my shoulders, shaking me.

"Naruto! Naruto!"

I cracked my eyes open, seeing the concerned face of Iruka above me. His eyes widened fractionally then relaxed, and he eased himself back.

"Iruka-sensei….where am I?" I tried to sit up but he replaced his hand on my shoulder, holding me gently in place.

"You gave us quite a fright Naruto, that was some injury you had. If it hadn't been for-" he cut himself off, floundering for a moment before he smiled tiredly and asked, "How are you feeling?"

I frowned slightly, "Sore...and pretty tired….but other than that ok I guess? I thought I'd be feeling a lot worse." And I had thought that. I placed my hand on my chest underneath the covers. The skin there felt tender, but it was mostly smooth, with the only the faintest outline of a scar.

 _I guess the Kyubi was telling the truth, it must have healed me._ Recalling its words was a bit disturbing, especially the fact that I'd actually spoken to him face-to-face in that strange inside world. _Naruto didn't meet him for a much longer time._

Suddenly I sat bolt upright, startling Iruka, "What happened to Mizuki? He was the one who stabbed me, you can't let him get away!"

Iruka held up his hands soothingly, "It's ok Naruto you can relax, we took care of Mizuki. Once your shadow clone dispersed I thought something was wrong and I rushed over to the location it told me. Mizuki was arrested by ANBU and taken away."

I sighed and relaxed back into the bed. _At least that's taken care off._

"Naruto...what you did was wrong, stealing that scroll. However..." Iruka looked troubled, "I also feel like we owe you an apology. Hokage-dono told me that you were feeling worried about the graduation exam but he didn't realise just how bad it was. I've seen you acting differently recently and I just assumed you were taking your training more seriously now. I want you to know that if you're ever feeling worried or scared about something, you can come speak to me about it."

I could feel a strange emotion rising inside me. It was ridiculous, being that I was actually 24 years old, but a part of me wanted to open up to Iruka and tell him everything that was going on. He was looking at me with genuine concern in his eyes, and I felt bad having to lie to him.

 _How could you? You'd be telling him that you killed the Naruto he knew and replaced him with a stranger. He'd hate you._

Mustering a smile to mask my inner turmoil I replied, "Thank you Iruka-sensei. I know what I did was wrong, even if Mizuki did lie to me. So….I'm sorry too."

Iruka nodded but he still seemed worried. He looked like….he was working up the nerve to say something?

"Naruto...is there anything else you'd like to tell me now, while we're talking?"

Alarm bells went off in my head. _He suspects something, or at the very least something else has got him worried. Is it just the personality shift? Or have I misstepped somehow?_

Pretending to think about it, I shook my head, "There's nothing else Iruka-sensei. It's just..."

"Yes Naruto?" He nodded encouragingly, I decided to go for it,

"I _have_ decided to take the academy more seriously. Getting stabbed by Mizuki showed me that being a ninja isn't a game, I've been acting too childishly up until now and wasting the time I could have spent training. I want to get stronger, and so I'm going to start giving my all at the academy." I looked Iruka directly in the eye, "I'm going to become the strongest ninja in this village. I don't know about Hokage, but I'm going to become strong enough to stand on my own two feet, so that I can protect the people I care about. I'll show you what kind of ninja I have the potential to be."

 _I don't want to hold myself back at the academy anymore. It's too cumbersome, and it affects my learning if I can't ask the instructors question properly. If I'm going to become truly strong I'll need Iruka's help, there are things I can't learn on my own or from books. Now that I've got the Kage Bunshin I can use that openly to explain the knowledge I already have._

"Naruto…that's great to hear. You're being very mature about this and I'm very proud of you. But, Naruto...I thought your dream was to be Hokage? You've always talked about it up until now, are you sure you want to give up on that? If it's because you feel guilty about Mizuki then you shouldn't, he was meant to be your instructor and he lied to you. There's no need for you to give up on your dream".

 _That dream died with Naruto. I have no desire to be Hokage._

Speaking to Iruka now had made me realise what I wanted. All I wanted was to become strong enough to protect the people close to me. That's something that hadn't changed from my old life, I wanted to be in a position to positively impact the lives of others. The ninja world could be shockingly brutal, and I knew there was still a lot more to come.

The hazy image of Team 7 floated in my mind. They weren't the only people in this world, my focus had been too narrow, constrained by the path Naruto had taken. Well, I wasn't Naruto, and it was time to stop isolating myself from people. Both in the village and at the academy.

 _Actually….the villages can screw themselves for all I care. But it is time for me to start making some friends at the school._

I gave Iruka a small, warm smile. "My dream hasn't changed sensei. It's still the same as it always was, I've just realised what I have to do now to achieve it."

Iruka reached over and pulled me into a hug, and even though I felt stupid as a tear rolled down my face, I hugged him strongly back.

* * *

"So, he didn't say anything else?"

"No Hokage-sama."

The Hokage hummed, inhaling deeply from his pipe and blowing the smoke out thoughtfully. The moments stretched out and Iruka decided to break in before the silence grew uncomfortable,

"Did Muzki say anything else?"

The Hokage blew out a huge amount of smoke as he sighed, "He has not. The only information he volunteered readily was that he was working for Orochimaru, but that was because he believed we already knew. In fact, he seemed surprised when we informed him otherwise." His wrinkled eye tracked the wisps of smoke as they faded, "A curious case indeed."

Iruka frowned, "And he didn't say who told him that?"

The Hokage shook his head, "He isn't going anywhere, now that we have him in custody I'm sure he'll tell us eventually. I'm more concerned about Naruto, you told me you could sense its presence while he was recovering?"

Iruka looked reluctant but the Hokage held his eyes unblinkingly. Eventually he nodded slowly and said,

"While Naruto was recovering I could sense traces of its chakra. It was….horrible….the feeling of pure hatred and anger manifesting itself. When he woke, I could see traces of it in his eyes but it faded quickly and he was back to normal after that."

"Normal...an interesting choice of word." The Hokage puffed again, "Normal, yes. But normal for Naruto? The boy seems to have undergone a marked change recently."

"You can't surely suspect him!" Iruka protested, "I know he's been acting differently but he's still Naruto! He's gone through a lot recently, it's not surprising that he would have reacted to it. He's only 10!"

"I'm not saying I'm suspicious of him Iruka, I'm merely pointing out that the boy has changed recently. And if the Kyubi has begun to show its hand already then my concern is for the boy."

Iruka looked mutinous, but the Hokage fixed him with a quelling glare.

"For now we will proceed as we have done in the past, but cautiously. I want you to keep an eye on the boy, and inform me if you notice anything that you think is troubling. I pray that my worry is unfounded but it doesn't hurt to be safe."

Iruka seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, before he bowed and replied, "Yes, Hokage-sama," and turned and left the room. As the door behind him shut the Hokage sighed and closed his eyes,

"I assume you heard all of that?"

There was a blur of movement, and a masked man stood in the room, his posture relaxed.

"I did."

"Iruka is a good man but I worry that his emotions will cloud his judgement. You will also need to watch the boy, particularly if Orochimaru is interested in him. I will arrange for your regular duties to be reduced to give you more time to keep an eye on him." The Hokage smiled, "I had hoped you might take him into your team after he graduated, so you could look at this as early screening. I expect he'll be released from the hospital's care in a few days time."

Hatake Kakshi nodded lazily behind his mask, "Yes, Hokage-sama."


	5. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note: Hi guys, sorry for the delay I've been out almost constantly the last couple of days. I've tried to write a bit of a longer chapter to make up for the shorter previous one. Contrary to what I said before, the 2 year gap is actually being covered in two chapters. Most of the time period is covered during this chapter, then the remaining section (you'll probably be able to guess what it is by the end!) will be covered in the next chapter. The next chapter will be a lot more heavily action focused, so if there's anyone out there who is really itching to see what the MC can do, all will be revealed in the next chapter...including the mysterious jutsu he's been experimenting with (:**_

 _ **As always, much love for all the reviews! Please keep them coming in!**_

* * *

 _Three months later…_

I ran quickly through the forest, panting heavily as my eyes roved around looking for my pursuer. A twig snapped somewhere to my left and I pumped chakra to my legs, launching myself up into the air and landing onto an extended tree branch, which groaned in protest as it bent down.

 _Come on where are you…_

There was a flash of white beneath me and I smirked as a second later a powerful overhead kick was blocked as I crossed my arms in front of my face.

 _Still too straightforward!_

But I'd underestimated the strength behind it, and I felt a lurch as the branch I was standing on snapped, sending me falling down to the ground. Above me, my assailant used his other leg to throw himself backwards by kicking off of my crossed arms, using them as a platform, and somersaulted backwards towards the tree trunk. He had barely landed for a second before he pushed off again, shooting directly towards me, his leg extended out in a kick.

 _Dammit, thanks to him launching off me I'm falling too fast to dodge._

Gritting my teeth my hands flashed through the seals, "Henge!"

The kick from my attacker collided with me at the same moment, and we went down together in a huge puff of smoke.

 _This is still going to hurt._

The impact with the ground jarred me, if I had been in the old world it would have probably snapped my back. Hell, if this had happened more than a couple of months ago it would have still caused a hell of an injury. As it was I got the air knocked out of me, and I rolled away spluttering for breath as my transformation dispelled, having served its purpose.

"Is it just me or have your kicks got even stronger since last week?" I complained.

From within the cloud of dispersing smoke, Rock Lee stepped forward, his hand held up in its trademark taijutsu stance. There was a fierce grin on his face,

"And you Naruto! That jutsu of yours is truly magnificent!"

I chuckled at his compliment. Magnificent was far too generous a word but there was no denying how useful it was. Expanding on the concept I'd first used against Mizuki I had been able to make the Henge jutsu much more effective in combat.

When a ninja channeled chakra through the body it had a strengthening effect on the bones and surrounding tissues. If a ninja thought a part of their body was likely to take heavy damage they could channel extra chakra to those regions to act as a buffer against the impact. However, depending on the size of your chakra coils and amount of chakra available, you could only channel so much chakra to those areas. With my version of the Henge, I could use the extra chakra that formed the transformation bubble as an extra cushion of defense against physical impacts. I could even utilise the extra chakra to bolster my offensive strikes, provided I maintained the amount of chakra I was pumping to the Henge correctly. It was rather like fighting with an additional, lightweight suit of armour around me.

In the months since Mizuki that I had spent training this, I had improved it massively, to the point where I could maintain it for a reasonable length of time during a fight. Yeah I still slipped up from time to time, but it had got to the point where it was worth taking the time to re-cast the jutsu for the advantages it gave. The dampening effect against damage alone was massive, by my reckoning it would even be able to shield me against something like Lee's primary lotus (whenever he learnt it), although that was something I definitely wouldn't be testing without a Kage Bunshin available.

That wasn't the only trick up my sleeve though.

"Don't relax yet Lee, I'm only just warming up over here." Lee shouted in excitement and launched himself towards me yet again.

We exchanged a quick flurry of punches, which ended when he lashed out with a kick. I hooked my leg around his in the crook of my knee and twisted inwards, forcing him off balance. As his body fell I gathered my chakra in my hand and my arm shot out like a piston, throwing him backwards with a grunt despite his hastily thrown up block. Pursuing my advantage I surged after him, dodging the trailing kick he threw up behind him as he pivoted on his arm like a breakdancer, and fired another punch at him. He managed to bend out of the direct path of my punch just in time, meaning I only landed a glancing blow. I was then forced to retreat as he pushed himself up and launched another flurry of punches.

We broke apart, sweaty and breathing heavy, and grinned at each other.

"Your dedication to training is truly wonderful Naruto, I have been training for many years to attain my current speed and stamina and yet in this short amount of time you have already caught up to me. However, I am still the faster."

"I suppose that may be true, if we're talking pure physical speed. But don't forget Lee, I can use ninjutsu too."

"Then I shall defeat you before you have the chance to!" Lee threw himself at me again, but I was already flashing through seals as he began moving.

"Katon - Goukakyuu!"

Lee stumbled as he attempted to backpedal out of the way but it was too late. Grinning evilly, I held my right hand up in the tiger seal.

 _Sorry Lee, but deception is the tool of ninja as well._

Focussing on a point right behind him I amped my chakra, eyes alight with excitement as I felt a huge surge, as if someone had cranked a subwoofer up to max. A flicker of movement later, I was standing behind Lee, holding up the red scarf that had been tied around his arm.

"I win," I said smugly, lips twitching at the sight of Lee's crestfallen face.

"That was rather sneaky Naruto," he said reproachfully. I just shrugged back,

"You can't expect your opponents to always play fair Lee. You need to be expecting them to try and pull a trick on you, and be thinking of some of your own."

 _And I've only showed you a little bit of what I can do._

He seemed to understand, nodding slowly as he contemplated it. I was about to comment on his serious look when he punched the air with his fists and shouted loud enough to make me wince,

"I have lost! But next time we spar I will be a stronger man!" He flashed me a brilliant white grin, "Believe it!"

I stared at him for a moment. _Did he….it's just a coincidence._ I shook my head ruefully and fist bumped him.

"I've got to go take care of my clones Lee. I'll catch you later."

"Until next time, Naruto!"

I smirked as I held up my hand in the tiger seal again, vanishing before Lee's eyes.

* * *

I'd been working hard over the last few months. I'd long since reached the end of the chakra control exercises in the book, which only went so far as water walking. After I'd mastered water walking I'd simply added more and more weight, then starting varying which limbs I used to support myself with. Even taking away one leg made a surprising difference, and then when I tried to walk on my hands I was surprised again. The chakra coils in the arms and hands were much different to those in my legs, and it took some re-adjustment before I got it down fully. The added benefit of the chakra training was that I could feel my mind becoming sharper and sharper. It seemed chakra not only bolstered the physical, but also the mental abilities of the user.

It seemed Iruka had grown much more accustomed to the new Naruto, and although I still caught him shooting me concerned looks from time to time, overall I was a lot more relaxed around him. I'd actually started hanging out with him fairly frequently, even if only to try and wheedle some more jutsu out of him.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Iruka had refused point blank to teach me any advanced or offensive jutsu, which was extremely frustrating even if it was understandable. I didn't belong to a large clan either so I had no real way to acquire jutsu for myself. It had taken me a month just to convince him to reluctantly show me the Kawarimi jutsu, which was only mildly useful. However I'd mastered it in short order and from there it had been pretty simple for me to figure out how to extend it into the Shunshin jutsu, as they both involved the same principle. The Kawarimi jutsu simply required the user to be able to visualise a point in space and have the chakra control necessary to wrap around both the user and the object and fold the space around them to make them swap. I hadn't really understood it at first, but it had made a lot more sense when Iruka explained it using a sheet of paper. The Shunshin jutsu was just an extension of that, except instead of wrapping chakra and folding the space between places, you instead visualised a point in space and circulated chakra in your body to create a powerful propulsive force that rocketed you to the location.

Both had drawbacks of course, and although I'd made good progress with them I certainly hadn't mastered them...yet. The Kawarami jutsu could only really be used with an object of similar mass to yourself, and it had to be an object that you could clearly visualise in your head and were familiar with. If I had tried to swap myself with something electronic from the old world it likely wouldn't have worked as the innards were very complex. Theoretically it was possible to swap yourself with something much smaller or heavier, but it took chakra control I didn't have right now. The Shunshin jutsu was very useful, and the high speed movement seemed to suit my combat style well, but using the hand seal and taking the time to visualise the destination point still slowed me down too much, and you could only travel in straight lines using it.

With limited access to ninjutsu I'd be tempted to try and learn the rasengan. However, annoyingly, I couldn't remember what exactly the steps were for it. Something to do with balloons...and rotating chakra….

My head jerked up as I entered the clearing where my first batch of shadow clones were, the first clearing I'd found for training. Currently there were about 10 of them all sparring with each other on the water surface.

"Time's up guys! Time to disperse!" I called out. As one they stopped and released themselves, dispersing in a huge puff of smoke. I flinched a bit as their mental fatigue and knowledge hit me all at once.

Learning via shadow clones was a very interesting experience, and after using them over the last few months I'd become convinced that the way Naruto used them was actually highly inefficient. I'd be making notes on what I'd discovered and so far I had the following:

\- If you left the shadow clones up for too long it actually started becoming counter-productive. If they reached a difficult part of training which they couldn't get past without more experience then very little progress was made. The best way I'd found to get around this was to disperse the clones very regularly, re-absorb the learning progress made up until then, then recreate them. It could get quite tiring, having to keep cancelling and redoing the jutsu, but it definitely helped with constant progression.

\- At first I'd found it rather creepy having multiple copies of myself that had the exact same personality, except they followed orders. However, the more I'd used the jutsu the more I'd started to notice very slight, subtle differences in the mindset of each clone. Nothing that had any real impact, but when it came to training the slight differences in mindset suddenly became very important, as each clone approached the training slightly differently, and a result progress was being made by each clone in a slightly different way that all added up to the net result. However, this seemed to have a limit as if I made too many clones to work on the same thing I started noticing that they doubled up on each other, which resulted in wasted clones and wasted chakra.

\- I didn't get any physical feedback in terms of fatigue, but I got all their mental fatigue. If I wasn't careful when dispersing large groups of clones I could very easily overdo it. I'd found this out the hard way early on when I'd knocked myself out after dispersing all my clones at once. Another bad part of this was that I didn't seem to receive any of the benefits from that training. I guess I had to be conscious to process the information?

 _If only I could put my clones under an MRI or CAT scan,_ I thought dreamily, _I wonder what I'd see?_

Early on I'd actually tried talking to one of my clones, to see what level of self awareness they had. I'd asked him (me?) why he followed my orders, and he just looked at me as if I was stupid.

 _Ninjutsu is a crazy thing. To perform the technique is so simple, but there are all these over factors to consider that I have no idea how I'm doing. You need hand seals to perform most ninjutsu, I wonder if they somehow make up the missing information that the user of the jutsu doesn't need to know?_

Well, that was enough thinking for one day. I was quite tired after sparring with Lee and dispersing the first group of chakra control clones. I still had two more groups to go; the taijutsu clones and the clones who were working on perfecting the paltry two ninjutsu that I had.

 _Oh, and there's the final group...the ones that are running my little experiment for me…_

I cracked a grin, now that I couldn't wait to see.

* * *

Kakashi liked the sound of the rain. It beat out to the rhythm of a steady drum, and it seemed to bleed the colour from the world, leaving it a little bleaker each time.

His was standing in front of the obsidian black memorial stone, his exposed eye carelessly tracing the names engraved into it.

 _Obito, I wonder what you would have thought of Minato-sensei's son._

Naruto hadn't been at all what Kakashi had been led to expect. He'd heard stories of the boy running amok in the village, playing pranks and getting himself into trouble constantly. He'd been flunking out of the Academy, but then a few months ago he'd suddenly seemed to turn it all around. Kakashi had been watching him for the last three of those months and, despite himself, he'd been impressed. The boy had displayed a surprising work ethic, and if his Academy scores had been anything to go by his growth in the time period was incredible. Of course the Kage Bunshin jutsu had helped there, something which Kakashi had also been surprised by, as it hadn't even crossed his mind until he saw Naruto using it.

 _Although of course it wouldn't be practical for anyone other than him to use it the way he has been for training._

Kakashi sighed, tilting his head back slightly, allowing the rainwater to trickle down the front and side of his face from his sodden hair.

 _His growth is constrained though and it's clearly frustrating him. It's against the rules to train children before their graduation, but what would you have done Obito? Would you have seen the potential in him that I have? Would you have broken the rules like you did before to help him? I doubt you'd be suspicious of him though, like I am._

And Kakashi was suspicious, despite the guilt pricking at him whenever he thought of how his old sensei would have felt at the thought that his student didn't trust his son.

 _Children don't change like that, not so suddenly. And according to Iruka and the Hokage he had started acting differently before the incident with Mizuki. Even if I thought that could be the cause it couldn't have been the trigger._

There was the distinctive rumble of thunder overhead and Kakashi sighed into his mask. He hadn't wanted this assignment, hadn't asked for it. Yet the Hokage had given it to him anyway, no doubt hoping this assignment might make him more open to the idea of taking on a genin team the year the boy graduated. Kakashi understood where the Hokage was coming from, the last Uchiha boy was in the same year, and there was no one better placed in the village to teach him to use his Kekkei Genkai than himself. The fact also remained that Naruto, whatever was going on with him, was not just Naruto, but the jinchuriki of the nine-tails.

 _The Hokage will be expecting an update soon. Am I just being paranoid?_

Kakashi stood there quietly, contemplating, a still figure amongst the rain.

* * *

I slouched my way to the back of the classroom, trying and failing to cover a yawn as I waved tiredly in greeting, "Yo! Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru scowled at me, "Do you have to be so loud first thing in the morning?" I waved it off dismissively,

"You need something to wake you up, if I can't nap then I'm not letting you either." Iruka had caught me napping last week when my Henge had dispelled halfway through my dream about parking tickets. It had been both hilarious and mortifying to have him erupt at me like that.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered. I couldn't help but smile at that and he rolled his eyes good naturedly.

Shikamaru had been the person I'd surprisingly ended up getting on the best with. I'd started making more of an effort with the people in my class after the resolution I'd made in the hospital but surprisingly it had proved quite difficult.

They were all just too…..childish.

I really had been more surprised than I should have, but as a 24-year old in hiding I sometimes found it quite difficult to relate to the other kids. Many of their day-to-day problems and conversations were too juvenile for me to take seriously and I got bored playing their repetitive games or joining in with their banter.

Luckily Shikamaru, being as clever as he was, was a lot maturer than the other kids and so we got along much better than I'd expected. At one point I'd thought about trying to get some shadow jutsu off him, but I'd quickly decided against it. Shadow jutsu didn't really appeal to me, I was going more for a high-speed style centered around chain attacks and evasion. Rooting myself in one place and trying to do the same to my opponent was the complete opposite to that.

"Oh-ho, did I hear someone mention napping again?" Kiba came up behind me and slung an arm around my neck. I jabbed him away chuckling,

"I was just saying to Shikamaru that he's got to be careful if we don't want to see sensei blow his top again."

"I wasn't even napping, troubleso-" Kiba's barking laugh drowned out the rest of what Shikamaru was saying,

"Anyway I warn you Naruto I'm going to kick your ass tomorrow!" He pointed a finger at me accusingly, "I don't know what kind of trick you pulled last time but no one beats me twice!"

"Other than Sasuke," I pointed out. He scowled in return,

"Forget pretty-boy, me and you are SO on tomorrow."

I was about to retort when Iruka started shouting at us to settle down. I plopped down next to Sasuke, who shot me a sideways glance but didn't say anything.

 _Business as usual there then._

Kiba was somebody else I got on with. I quite liked his fiery personality, and his brawler fighter style was always fun to spar against. I hadn't quite showed the full extent of my skills at the academy yet, particularly the ninjutsu, but I'd steadily been ramping up on my taijutsu and getting more directions from the instructors. Taijutsu was one thing they seemed to be more relaxed about (I guess they figured the damage was a lot more controllable), and they were only too happy to point out flaws in my technique or remark on what I should be focussing on for my particular style.

Sasuke had remained a closed book, the most I'd managed to get out of him was an affirmative grunt during training. I wasn't in a rush though, and I didn't want to push him. We'd develop a friendship in our own time.

Today we were going to practice the Bunshin jutsu. I struggled to hold back another yawn.

 _I wonder if I could get away with sending a Kage Bunshin here?_

* * *

"Hey Sasuke, where you are you heading to now?"

Sasuke regarded me coldly but said nothing. I fell in step with him as we walked out of the Academy.

"I was thinking that maybe you and I could train together sometime?" He still didn't reply.

 _This guy should give a class on stoicism._

"Alright well I'll catch you later."

I thought I might have heard a grunt from Sasuke but he didn't give any other acknowledgement of my existence as he walked back towards where I presumed the Uchiha district was located.

 _Or maybe I just wanted to hear it…_

I huffed as I made my way over to the forest where I usually trained. Sasuke was a tough one to crack but I had faith I'd get there eventually. I'd started asking (definitely not pestering) him to hang out every day almost for a week now. So far he seemed to think that if he ignored me long enough I'd eventually give up but I'd noticed him shooting me curious looks at the Academy after I'd started showing off more and more and I figured now would be a good time to establish an early friendship. Especially if we ended up on the same team, which was something I still wanted.

 _Sasuke and Naruto's conflict stemmed mostly from Sasuke's inferiority complex from what I remember. However all Sasuke ever really wanted was to get revenge on Itachi, and get strong enough to do it. If he sees me as an ally rather than a rival…_

I still hadn't decided what to do about that. What I really wanted was to confront Itachi...confront Itachi and….then what? I wanted to speak to him but I didn't know what I wanted him to say.

Another difference between Naruto and I was whereas Naruto had been horrified by Sasuke leaving the village, I wasn't so sure I'd have the same hang-up. Yeah sure Orochimaru seemed like bad news but he'd certainly made Sasuke much stronger, he did a better job than Jiraya ever had with Naruto. Of course I didn't know whether Orochimaru would give me the same consideration (and since I was rather lacking in the Sharingan department, my inclination was that he probably wouldn't) but it was at least an option I wasn't completely closing off.

 _It all depends on what happens after we get put into teams. And whether or not team Kakashi stays the same._

I'd arrived at the first clearing. I wasn't meeting Lee today so I was planning on running some...experiments again. I raised my hands in the familiar clone seal.

"That's a rather interesting training method you have there."

My heart thudded at the noise. _That voice!_

I spun around and, leaning casually against a tree, was none other than Kakashi.

"Kakashi!" I cried out excitedly. He raised an eyebrow,

"Oh? Have we met before?"

I cursed myself for my slip-up. Of course we wouldn't have met yet, and it was a stupid mistake to make.

 _You can't afford to make such rookie errors,_ I thought to myself sternly. I replied hastily,

"I, ah, I'd heard that you were one of the best jounin in the village. The copy-cat ninja right?"

Kakashi was looking at me with a sharpness that made me feel uncomfortable. Come to think of it, what was he doing all the way out here in the forest? Granted I had no idea what he'd got up to in the days before the anime started.

"It's always nice to meet a fan, even if they are a kid. So who do I have to thank for telling you about me?" He spoke the words lightly enough, but I could tell he was probing me.

"I was asking Iruka-sensei who the best ninja in the village after the Hokage were, and he told me about you." I lied, making a mental note to actually ask Iruka that. It sounded a little weak to my ears but Kakashi just nodded thoughtfully. I followed up, trying to move the conversation along,

"Aren't you a famous ninja then? What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Ah well, you see, I was walking a little old lady's dogs for her, but one of them ran away and so I ended up here."

There were a few moments of silence while I started incredulously at him,

"Did you want any help finding it?"

Kakashi waved dismissively, "I'm sure it'll turn up eventually. What's far more interesting is that jutsu you've been using, have you been using it to train with?"

 _How much do I tell him here? I don't think it's such a stretch that I could have stumbled across the benefits of the shadow clone myself. Although he must have seen me using it already if he's asking about it, there's no way it's just a coincidence he's here. In fact, Naruto only met him for the first time when he joined his team! Why is he here now? Is it because he heard about what happened with Mizuki?_

Kakashi seemed to sense my hesitation because he smiled and held up his hand reassuringly,

"This isn't an interrogation. I was just curious after I saw you using it."

I smiled back uncertainly. _Whatever he's here for, I don't have anything that I need to hide...I think._

"It's something that I realised after I used the jutsu a couple of times. When my clones dispersed, I suddenly got all the memories that they'd had. So it got me thinking, what if I could use my clones to learn stuff for me? It worked and then it kind of escalated from there…" I scratched the back of my head ruefully.

Kakashi nodded slowly, "I'm impressed by how well you've put it to good use, most kids your age aren't even half as motivated as you. "

I nodded warily. _Just how much does Kakashi know? If he's been watching me...I don't think I've done anything that'd give me away._ Kakashi was smart though, and I could tell he was probing for something. If he really was trying to catch me out, chances were he might succeed if we spoke too long. I'd already slipped up at the start which probably hadn't helped. Kakashi continued talking,

"I was passing through here the other day and I noticed you had a lot of them doing the water walking exercise. I didn't know they taught that at the Academy now."

 _Damn he's been watching me. Do I just tell him I read about them in a book? It's the truth, but if he's already here quizzing me then it means there's something he's suspicious about. Maybe he doesn't buy the whole I'm turning over a new leaf bit?_

An idea suddenly sparked in my head. Knowing what I did it felt a little mean to Kakashi, but he was just too damn perceptive.

"Oh no they don't, I read about them in a book," as I thought, Kakashi frowned a bit at my admission. I went on,

"After everything that happened with Mizuki it got me thinking, not just about myself, but my parents."

Kakashi's exposed eye widened fractionally. I felt a twinge of guilt, it felt like I was manipulating him with my knowledge from the anime, but I forged ahead,

"I could have died there. And it got me thinking, is that how my parents felt in their last moments? What were they thinking? Were they thinking of me? I've grown up all alone, for all these years, because they weren't strong enough to survive the attack." I swallowed thickly, palming away the tears that had leaked out. I was surprised about myself, but talking about my parents and almost dying had actually stirred up a lot of emotions inside of me. I looked up at Kakashi, who was staring back at me impassively, "I know it's selfish of me to think that, but I can't help but wish they had been stronger, strong enough to stay alive for me. I don't ever want to do that to someone else."

There was a long silence after that. Kakashi eventually broke it,

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset."

I shook my head,

"I didn't mean to get emotional, I'm sorry, you just asked me about training." I hesitated as I began to speak.

 _Go for it, worst case scenario he says no._

"Hey, Kakashi...do you mind if I ask you something?"

He looked a little surprised at my abrupt change of topic but he nodded,

"You just did, but you can ask another."

"You're the copy-cat ninja right? So you must know loads of ninjutsu? Is there any chance you could-"

"No." Kakashi broke in flatly. I was a little taken aback by his abruptness, "Ninjutsu are given to ninja at the discretion of their jounin sensei once they have graduated from the Academy. Being a ninja isn't a game, Naruto, and ninjutsu aren't meant to be used for fun. It would be highly irresponsible of me to teach you anything now, particularly as I'm not your sensei."

His comment stung a bit, and I felt myself get a little irritated,

"I won't use them for fun, I'm trying to practice to become the best ninja that I can. And loads of kids at the Academy have ninjutsu, why do they get special treatment just because they're in big clans?" Another idea came to mind, "If you won't teach me any ninjutsu will you at least tell me my chakra nature? I know everyone has an elemental type because Shikamaru explained it to me when I asked him about his shadow jutsu." The last part wasn't strictly true but Kakashi didn't need to know that.

 _Mental note, ask Shikamaru about chakra types when I next see him. And hope he knows what I'm talking about._

Kakashi didn't even seem to consider it.

"I'll leave you to your training Naruto, I didn't want to interrupt." He seemed to hesitate briefly, "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry. I'm sure your parents wanted only the best for you."

Shock overruled my irritation, leaving me speechless. Before I could formulate a reply, Kakashi had vanished in a sealless shunshin.

* * *

 _Three months later..._

"Hey Sasuke, did you want to train sometime together?"

"Why do you always ask me that?"

I was so surprised he replied I almost tripped over the steps on the way out of the Academy.

"We're all part of Konoha right? If we're all aiming to be ninja one day then it makes sense that we should help each other out," I spoke quickly, "We're all trying to become the strongest that we can right? I've seen you in class Sasuke, I know you're plenty strong already but I'm sure we can both help each other out."

Sasuke gave a miniscule jerk as I said the word "strongest" and I had to swallow a grin. I knew that would appeal to him. His face was as impassive as it normally was though, as he regarded me cooly for a moment.

"You seem to have been making a lot of progress on your own anyway."

This time I grinned fully,

"Nothing that I couldn't show my training partner, if we were helping each other out."

Sasuke grunted,

"Where do you normally train? I'll just come one evening and see what you do. If I think you're just messing around though…"

I waved off his concerns, "You don't have to worry about that Sasuke. I want the same thing you do, to become stronger. And if we can help each other do that then that's all I want."

Sasuke didn't look convinced but he turned up the next day in the forest.

* * *

 _Three months later..._

"Naruto!" The voice cracked like a whip. I flinched as I looked across the playground and saw a couple of girls stalking towards me. They shared some classes with me but I didn't actually know their names.

 _I guess these girls don't make it to become ninja. I don't recognise them from the show._

"Can I help you?" I asked, sounding bored even to myself. I'd had a feeling this was coming, ever since I'd noticed them shooting angry glares at me a few days earlier.

Predictably, the lead girl puffed up in indignation, and jabbed a finger towards me,

"Leave Sasuke alone! He doesn't need your sort bothering him! You'll never be as good as he is so why don't you just give up!"

"Nah."

A vein bulged in her forehead. _That can't be healthy at our age._

"Didn't you hear what I said!" She shrieked, I cut in before she could pick up steam.

"I heard, I just don't care. Go away."

She started spluttering in indignation, her friends seemingly happy to settle for shooting me disgusted glares. I just sighed and wandered off, tuning out the sounds of their voices behind me. I spotted Kiba on the other side mouthing something at me.

 _U...chi...ha...tards?_

I snorted and he burst out laughing. I started making my way over to him.

The last three months hadn't been too eventful. Lee had joined team Gai, which meant I was spending a lot less time with him than I had been before. However his taijutsu was starting to improve my leaps and bounds, and although he'd been worried about sharing what Gai had taught him at first, after I'd given him the same speech I'd given to Sasuke he'd been more than happy to continue training together. Using my shadow clones I didn't think I'd need to copy the leg weights anymore, but I was planning on prodding him for some information on the gates when I was able to. The anime had never gone too much into detail about them, but they certainly seemed like something that'd be useful to have in your back pocket.

Training with Sasuke had helped me a lot more than I thought it would. He seemed happy enough to have a sparring partner that took things as seriously as he did, and after some initial resistance from him I'd talked him into practicing the chakra control techniques that I'd long since mastered. His taijutsu style was very different to what I'd been practicing with Lee. Lee used many broad, impactful moves and it was a very offensive, straightforward style. Sasuke, by comparison, was much more refined. The moves he employed were much more complicated, allowing the user to evade much more easily and also relied more on high-speed jabs and punches rather than slower, broader movements. With my shadow clones and my physical conditioning I'd been able to quickly start incorporating the moves into my own style, which was a high-speed, powerful striking style that relied on a high-speed offense to quickly blitz down an opponent before they had a chance to counter.

Unfortunately I seemed to be hitting a limit in terms of raw physical capability, however I knew that was only temporary as the older I got the higher the limit would be. I was now extremely strong and fast though, even faster than both Sasuke and Lee (although I hadn't quite shown them my full potential), and that was before throwing in the Shunshin, which I had now mastered to the point of no longer needing hand seals for it.

The experiments I had been running with my clones had also paid off, and I had another jutsu that I liked to think of as a secret weapon added to my arsenal. It took both direct contact, as well as a large amount of chakra, but I was looking forward to the first time I was able to use that in a combat situation. Unfortunately practicing it on myself was rather….unsettling...and so I'd decided to stop doing that once I was confident enough in it.

 _A real combat situation….it's hard to gauge exactly where I stand when I can't fight all out with someone. Now that I'm running into a bit of a wall with my training it'd be a good time to fight someone, but where can I find an opponent?_

Over the last few months I had also been exploring the village more. There wasn't really anywhere in Konoha I could go to find someone to fight, but there were plenty of ways to leave the village without being spotted. There were several towns and villages within a day's travel of the village, possibly more if I was fast as I thought I was.

I'd also spied something quite interesting the last time I'd hung around the village gate. A group of jonin had been returning from somewhere and the leader had pulled out a bingo book, something I'd forgotten had existed in the anime.

 _If the book gives enough details, I might be able to track down a rogue-nin. Nobody too dangerous of course...but there should be someone in there I can test my skills against._

It was another risk, but a calculated one. I needed to know where I stood in the ninja ranks (surely I was stronger than a genin by now?) and also the effectiveness of my training. This was also the perfect time to test out the fighting style I'd been working on. Training against shadow clone was useful but it wasn't anywhere near the same as fighting against an actual opponent who had their own style and techniques.

 _Plus I've made no progress with getting any new ninjutsu, perhaps defeating a ninja might open some doors there to actually learning some new techniques._

When I arrived home that night, I was surprised to see a package waiting for me by the door. I tore open the envelope, a small sheet of square paper flopping out along with a handwritten note. Curiously, I picked up the note and began to read,

"A man driving a cart was being chased by a pack of hungry wolves and he dropped this on his way out. Maybe it's something you'd find useful."

I looked down in confusion for a moment at the square paper that had accompanied the note, then gasped in realisation as the memory flashed across my mind.

It was a piece of chakra paper.


	6. Chapter 5

**_Author's Note: Hi guys! Once again thank you so much for the reviews, I really can't express enough how nice is it to read what you guys think of the story. Please keep them coming, good or bad!_**

 _ **To address a couple of things:**_

 _ **LongRoadToNowhere I'm glad you felt like the chapter resolved your questions! I'm trying to lay the groundwork for the series to go in a lot of different directions. But we'll see how that pans out! I am also a fan of grey morality rather than everything being black and white.**_

 _ **LevDavid That's a very interesting idea, but I can't reveal too much (:**_

 _ **GinHannelle I'm glad you're enjoying it! It seems we share a lot of the same favourite characters...(: I'd love to write a Harry Potter story with a similar SI concept. However if I started it now it'd eat into the time I have to write this story so I'm a bit torn. I was thinking of progressing this story a bit further then alternating between this and a HP story.**_

 _ **deesis Very good catch...you will see what happens (:**_

 _ **As a general point in an ideal world I'd be releasing chapters daily, however sadly I also have to balance work, gym, going out, playing DnD and writing this! I will try to release at least every few days.**_

 _ **The bulk of this chapter is extremely action/combat focused. It'll be interesting to hear what you guys think of it.**_

* * *

 _One month later..._

 _People in the ninja world are way too lax on security,_ I thought to myself as I raced through the trees away from Konoha. Really, getting out of the village had been laughably easy, I was actually disappointed. All it had taken in the end was me using my Henge jutsu and walking out the front gate. I'd felt a spike of chakra directed as me as I crossed through, but it fell apart in the dense chakra field that surrounded me as part of the transformation and whoever it was hadn't said anything as I'd carried on walking. I'd decided to disguise myself as Kabuto again, which probably wasn't the best idea since I had no idea where he was, but it amused me.

I pulled out the bingo book I'd pilfered off a drunk jounin while we were playing cards. I'd played a bit of poker in my old life and it was surprisingly fun brushing off my skills again. At first I'd been worried he'd get suspicious if I asked for the book, but when I casually mentioned I'd take the book in place of the money he owed me after being down 3 hands he'd been tripping over himself to hand it over.

I rifled through the pages until I landed again on the target I'd chosen back at the village, scanning through the information to confirm I'd picked the right person.

 _Daiichi Ishizuka. A B-rank rogue-nin from Kumogakure. Wanted for weapon smuggling, assault, defection and theft. Primarily uses a mixture of kenjutsu and ninjutsu. Bounty: 200,000 ryo. Last spotted at the border of the Fire Country. No distinguishing physical features or kekkei genkai._

There was a rough sketch of a man scowling up at me. I snapped the book shut and replaced it in my pocket. A B-rank was one grade higher than I'd be planning on taking on but I wanted to push myself. Also the man's profile had stood out to me, depending on how it went down he could prove very useful to me…

His profile didn't offer many clues as to where he might be. However, I hadn't been wasting my last few weeks in Konoha. In the guise of a civilian I'd spent a lot of time talking with the merchants who passed through Konoha while I had some shadow clones devoted to studying the geography and politics of the Fire Country. The results were very interesting, and far surpassed anything I remembered seeing in the anime.

The Fire Daimyo was the leader of the country, who was selected by the consensus of several of the most powerful noble families at the time. What could be considered the Great Noble Houses was in a constant state of flux, and noble houses were constantly vying with each other for political supremacy. The current Daimyo was from the Armcomb House, who owned the majority of the metal mines in the country. Historically the Noble Houses had maintained power by hiring ninja to assassinate their rivals, however as more and more houses had sought the services of ninja the conflict escalated to the point where it was no longer about stealth and subterfuge and was more about ninja clans in open war with each other.

Eventually, the First Hokage had put a stop to that by reaching a historic agreement with the Fire Daimyo. Konoha had been recognised as an official, singular organisation by the Daimyo and was forbidden to interfere with civilian matters of state. In exchange, the Daimyo was not to interfere with ninja affairs and Konoha was allowed to govern itself as it pleased within its walls. One thing I was surprised to read about was how quickly the Daimyo and the First Hokage had used the agreement to their advantage. Now fighting as a unified force, the Fire Country quickly expanded and consolidated its territory, becoming the largest country on the continent. In order to stop their aggressive expansion, other countries eventually followed suit and formed their own ninja villages to combat Konoha.

This eventually lead to the establishment of the Five Great Nations. However, many smaller countries that were swallowed up during this period resented the loss of their sovereignty. In the years that followed there were several uprising and rebellions that were either crushed by the Daimyo's army or stopped by having ninja assassinate the key rebel figures. As the military power of each country and their respective ninja villages grew uprisings became less and less common, almost stopping completely after the First Hokage distributed the tailed beasts during one of the ninja wars, in an attempt to establish peace between the Great Villages.

 _Rather like giving everyone a nuke, in the hope that everyone will be too scared to used it. Mutually assured destruction eh? I wonder where I've heard that before. And he kept the biggest nuke of all for himself._ My mind flashed back to my encounter with the Kyubi.

However, almost stopping wasn't the same as stopping, and I'd noticed a common trend with many of the merchants who had passed through Konoha. I'd paid close attention to anyone who stocked up on a significant amount of weapons, or those who travelled with large groups of mercenaries. Of course they'd been careful, spreading out their purchases, rotating through different people, splitting up their camps, but all of that just made them stand out more to me. They were going through great pains to mask the quantity and contents of what they bought, although I rather suspected it was pointless since I doubted Konoha actually cared too much.

 _If I could spot it on my own then I'm sure the village is aware of it, but since it's a civilian matter it's not really within their remit. In fact, in a twisted way it benefits Konoha, since we profit from the items sold and the ninja that'll no doubt be hired._

The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth. The more I learned about the ninja world, the darker it seemed. An image of Itachi flashed through my mind.

 _Where are you now, I wonder? Do you regret what happened? Or would you do it again for the village you said you loved?_

I ducked a low hanging tree branch, narrowly avoiding it was my thoughts distracted me. I was acutely aware that the graduation exam was fast approaching and, although I'd decided to live for myself and not just in Naruto's shadow, I still didn't want to abandon the people around me. The more time I spent with them the more real they became to me, rather than just characters in my head.

I shook my head to clear it. _You can worry about this when you get back to the village. Now is not the time._

The place I was heading to, which was creatively named Docktown, was where many of the merchants had been heading (at least according to some of the conversations I'd eavesdropped on). It was also one of the few towns with a large port in Fire Country, as most of the region was landlocked and, more importantly, there had been some reports of civil disturbances after their old governor had been arrested for supposedly speaking out against the Daimyo.

 _Now, if I was a rogue-ninja with a penchant for smuggling weapons, I can't think of somewhere else I'd rather be. Even if he's not there, there's gotta be someone like him._

I set my jaw as I raced ahead towards my destination.

* * *

Docktown was a pretty miserable place. Everywhere I looked the buildings were run-down and patchy, and I had to constantly pay attention to avoid stepping in the numerous pot holes and crevices that littered the streets. The locals eyed with poorly concealed suspicion, looks that I shot right back at them. A feeble mist hung in the air, giving the town an eerie feeling.

I was wearing Kabuto's face again as I walked around. As I'd approached the town I'd rested up and pumped as much chakra as I could manage into the Henge. It was comforting to walk around with the feeling of dense chakra enveloping me. At least this way I shouldn't be able to get caught off-guard, and I could focus on finding where Daiichi was.

 _Assuming he's here._

So far my plan was to keep walking further and further into the shadier parts of town and see if I could spot anything. Most of the people here moved like civilians, so I was confident that even if I got into a brawl I'd come out mostly unscathed.

"Heeey, have you got any money geezer?" A shabby looking man called out to me drunkenly from the alley. I made to keep moving but then I stopped.

 _Homeless people will be more willing to talk, and they probably know quite a bit about the local area. I wonder.._

I walked towards him, stepping carefully around the broken bottles and spilled liquid around him.

"I might do," I said casually, "But I usually only give money to my friends."

He froze midway through lifting a bottle to his mouth, and looked at me with crafty eyes

"Your friends eh? Well I can be your friend too….how can I help my buddy out?" He slurred his words slightly.

 _How direct should I be here? I've got by so far by being sneaky, but I'm far away from Konoha now and there's no-one here I need to hide from. Plus I'm not sure how long my Kage Bunshin is going to hold up on its own so I can't afford to waste too much time here…_

"I heard what happened to the governor. He happened to be an acquaintance of mine, and I was wondering if there was anybody I could discuss my...grievances with." I spoke lightly, watching his body closely for a reaction.

He jerked slightly, then looked at me as though he was sizing me up. I looked back placidly, until he started to haul himself up,

"Let's talk somewhere away from prying eyes." He started limping back into the alley and I followed, a strange feeling prickling at the back of my neck.

 _That felt….too easy. Or am I just being paranoid?_

We walked deeper into the alley and my sense of unease grew as the noises from the street behind grew fainter and fainter.

"How much further do we need to go?" I asked. The man in front of me stopped, then turned around slowly, straightening as he did.

"This is far enough." He spoke clearly, without any trace of drunkenness. I heard the soft thuds of people dropping down behind me.

"What is this?" I asked, my heart thumping from a strange mix of anticipation and nervousness. I shot a glance behind me and saw two men approaching, crude club-like weapons in their hands. The man in front of me shook his head,

"I don't know who you think you are but you obviously don't know how things work around here. You think you can just walk into this town and start asking questions like that?" He sounded disappointed, "Take him boys, try not to kill him."

Adrenaline surged through me like a lightning bolt as I could feel my fight-or-flight reflex kick in. The movements of the men seemed to slow to my eyes as I released the hold on my chakra, letting it pump fiercely through me. I was still afraid but I buried it deep, forcing it down through sheer, brutal willpower and submering it beneath layers of cold, calculated aggression.

 _You wanted this, you wanted to fight. This isn't the old world with its sensibilities and modern life, this is the world of ninjas and I need to be prepared to fight._

I didn't add "and possibly take a life."

The two men were flanking me, the one on the right moved first, bringing the club up high above his head. I exploded into motion, leaping backwards and pivoting with my fist, chakra lacing up through my legs and turning me into little more than a blur. He obviously wasn't expecting such a burst of speed because my fist crashed against the side of his head, smashing him into the side of the wall. He dropped instantly, and his companion took a step back in shock. I followed through into the motion, rotating around fully and leaping upwards towards him.

 _Take him out quickly then take out the leader._

He swung his club wildly but I didn't even move to block it, focusing instead on the point on my body he aimed for. I felt his club push in against the chakra of my transformation, but with the extra chakra I'd used to reinforce it earlier it barely made a dent. I could see the shock plainly in his eyes as I drove my fist forward in a straight punch.

The clang of metal rang out and I felt the cold steel of a blade blocking my punch. I jumped back, watching as the man who had pretended to be drunk, presumably the leader, straightened up from the defensive stance he'd taken up in front of of his friend, the blade of his sword flashing.

His friend, the man with the club, had fallen onto his backside, staring up at me with wild eyes. The leader shifted in front of him,

"Go," he said in a deep voice, not taking his eyes off me, "We've been discovered. Go and inform the others that a ninja has been sent after us. I'll take care of this one."

I raised an eyebrow, "Do you think I'll let him escape that easily?" The initial fear had all but faded now, and there was a roaring in my ears as my blood pumped frantically around my body.

He ignored me, "Go," he repeated. His friend nodded and scrambled to his feet. As he turned to go I flashed through the seals.

"Kage Bunshin!"

Three clones popped into existence around me and immediately leapt to engage the man with the sword. I bent my legs and focussed on the man running away.

 _Shunshin._

Chakra exploded through my legs like a jet engine and my vision blurred as I was propelled forward. A second later I was just behind the man who turned and cried in fear as he saw me. He panicked and swung at me with his fist but I simply grabbed him by the wrist, forced his arm down and threw him over my shoulder back into the alley, turning his momentum against him. He crashed down onto the floor, stirring slightly before I moved forward and brought my leg down in an axe onto his head. He immediately slumped back into the ground.

 _It felt weird kicking someone without enhancing the blow with chakra._ I hadn't wanted to kill him, I didn't feel like jumping that particular hurdle yet.

However it must have looked like I did to the man with the sword, and my eyes widened and I ducked as a sword passed through where my head had been just a moment before, information from one of my dispelled shadow clones dropping into my head. I crouched down like a spring then uncoiled, lashing out with my right leg aiming at his outstretched sword hand. He managed to snatch it out the way, but I brought my trailing left leg up and hooked it around the underside of his arm, forcing it upwards towards me. I twisted sharply and he let out a cry of pain, the sword dropping from his hand. He swung a fist at me but, again, I barely blocked it, holding my arm up casually and letting the chakra cushion the impact.

The force of his punch pushed me backwards slightly, and I let myself fall back with the momentum, until I was standing opposite him on both feet again. He was nursing his sword arm, staring hatefully at me.

"You're a chakra user," I noted. Barely trained, but he was too fast and strong to be a normal civilian. He spat at my feet,

"You'll get nothing from me. Why don't you kill me now like you killed the other two."

I hummed, "I'm not going to kill you, and I haven't killed your friends."

"Bullshit," he sneered, "You best do me in fast, otherwise I'm going to raise all hell on you. Once the people hear learn what you did you won't last the night."

The slight bending of my knees was all the warning he had, I surged forwards again, my punch colliding solidly in an uppercut to his abdomen. He gasped and dropped to the floor, winded, clutching at where I'd punched him.

I watched him for a moment, the initial buzz of battle fading, feeling slightly uncomfortable for the way I was handling him. The power gap was clear and it felt a bit like bullying to lash out at him like I was. I gritted my teeth, ruthlessly suppressing the feeling.

"I'm not here looking for trouble," the lie came easily to me, "I have my own goals, and I heard that there was somebody in this town who I share a common enemy with." I decided to take a chance, "The Fire Daimyo is a bastard, and Konoha are just as bad for propping him up. Just because I'm a ninja it doesn't mean I'm on board with them."

He glared up at me, still gasping, and I waited impatiently for him to regain his breath. Once he did he spoke again,

"How do I know I can trust you?"

That did make me laugh,

"I think we're past trust here. Either you point me to the man in charge, or I keep going through your buddies until someone talks. I'm not here to get in your way, I want to help you."

He didn't look happy but at the moment the first man I'd taken down groaned and he seemed to make up his mind.

"Ok, I'll take you to where he is."

* * *

He took me to what looked like a shipping yard. It was a good thing I'd found him because it was massive, it would have taken me a long time to find the place on my own. After walking quite far in we came across a small warehouse. I channelled some chakra to my ears and I could pick up the faint noises of conversation from within.

As we approached the door he grunted to me, "Wait here, I'll go and speak to him."

"Actually I think I'll stick with you if that's alright," I said pleasantly, "I get nervous when I'm alone."

He eyed me but didn't say anything as we walked up to the door together. He reached out and knocked out a short sequence. A second later the door swung open,

"Rugen! You're early! What-" the man who'd answered trailed off as he saw me standing there. I smiled politely,

"How do you do?"

"Rugen, who's your friend?" He asked uncertainly. The man, Rugen, stomped forwards,

"He's with me. He's here to see Daiichi."

 _Yes!_ I thought exultantly, _He is here!_

Rugen brushed past the doorman and I followed, shooting him an apologetic look.

It was dimly lit inside the warehouse, as we went through I could see crates stacked on top of each other and surprisingly few people. They spoke in quiet murmurs as we passed but didn't do anything more than shoot us a few curious looks as we passed.

Rugen led me to the back of the warehouse, where a man of average height was standing inspecting a crate. As he turned my heart began to beat quickly again.

 _It's Daiichi. No mistaking it._

I tried to keep my face blank as he walked up to us. Unlike the men in the alleyway, he moved with the careful precision that marked a trained ninja.

 _Target acquired. Now I need to get him somewhere alone._

As he approached he directed his question at Rugen,

"Who is this you've brought here Rugen?"

His voice carried a dangerous edge to it and Rugen suddenly looked extremely nervous. Ignoring him, I stepped forward and injected confidence into my voice,

"Daiichi Ishizuka. A B-Class rogue-nin with a bounty of 200,000 ryo. I've been wanting to meet you for a while."

Daiichi looked mildly pleased, he waved Rugen away casually and replied after his footsteps has receded,

"Have we met before?"

I shook my head,

"I'm here on behalf of an interested party. We want to make you an offer for your services."

Daiichi's eyes flicked up and down me and I focussed on forcing my muscles to stay relaxed. This was the tricky part, probing him to get enough information whilst also pretending I already knew about him.

 _I need to get him to agree to meet with me somewhere secluded, preferably out of town. It'd be best if I could catch him off-guard too…_

Daiichi nodded thoughtfully, then asked,

"You know it's quite unusual for a ninja to go through civilians. I'm surprised you'd want to meet me here, like this," he tilted his head, "Why not approach me somewhere else, more secluded?"

He spoke the words lightly but it set off alarm bells in my head. _Oops, I guess I have a bit more to learn about infiltration in the ninja world. He's suspicious, and he's testing me to see if I have a good explanation. But at the same time he's given me an opening to what I need._

There were a few ways I could play this. Resisting the urge to swallow I replied,

"Time was of the essence, and this location suits me fine. Is there something I should be worried about?"

Daiichi was staring at me.

 _He's been quiet for too long, he's not buying it! I can't fight him here with all these people around, I need something else that'll convince him...something else…_

"Are you interested in the offer or not? My employers aren't known for their patience...you may have heard of them - the Akatsuki?"

Daiichi's posture stiffened, which for a ninja was the same as gaping in shock.

 _So you have heard of them then? I know they must have be active now because Nagato became Pain after his friend died._

"Akatsuki?" Daiichi said slowly, "I've heard rumours…you expect me to believe you represent them? An amateur like you?"

His question rankled a bit but it also showed me that I still had a lot to learn. I didn't know exactly where I'd gone wrong in approaching him directly like this but clearly to a trained ninja the signs were obvious.

 _I need to be more careful in future, this was a mistake that could have cost me big-time if I didn't get lucky._

"I don't expect you to believe anything, which is why my partners are waiting a short distance outside the village. Of course they felt it was best to not enter the village themselves, given their...notoriety."

There was a blur of movement and Daiichi appeared behind him, sword pressing against my neck. A bead of sweat trickled down my back as I focussed on maintaining the chakra flow to that area of the transformation. It felt like it was about to puncture from the pressure he was applying.

"If you're lying, I can take your head off with a twitch of my wrist," he hissed, "Take me to them now."

Talking whilst maintaining the concentration was difficult, "You want to go there right now?"

"Shouldn't be a problem if you're telling the truth, let's move."

 _Dammit, I'd hoped I'd have a bit of time to prepare. He's clearly suspicious so I shouldn't push it, for now I should be happy that he's taken the bait. Once we're out of town I can make my move._

The one thing I had going for me in this situation was that he clearly underestimated me. Which felt like something of a rookie mistake on his part, what if I was someone like Itachi and I was just pretending to be weaker?

 _Maybe experienced ninja can tell the difference between someone who's faking and someone who isn't? Or maybe someone as powerful as Itachi wouldn't need to pretend...must be a nice feeling._

I nodded slowly, "Ok, I'll take you there."

* * *

We'd travelled about a half hour away from the town, although my speed was severely hampered by the blade at my neck. Daiichi had stubbornly refused to move it as we travelled.

 _Ok, this should be far enough._

My hands were so sweaty that I was sure Daiichi couldn't have missed it. Either way he hadn't chosen to comment on it. I slowly came to a stop as I was walking.

"This is the place."

"Here?" His question came out cold. I raised my arm and pointed off in a random direction,

"Just through that clearing, you should be able to see them from here."

I sensed Daiichi shift his focus to where I was pointing and I knew it was now or never.

 _Commit. No time to think. Your life is on the line here._

In the split second moment that he looked I jerked my head violently down. As promised, he flicked his wrist and sent it shearing down on my head. The Henge dispersed in a violent explosion of smoke, the chakra slowing down his blade just enough that I managed to twitch my neck out of the way of a fatal injury. I spun away, droplets of blood flying from my neck, as I flashed through the seals.

"Kage Bunshin!"

The smoke pillowed out as a dozen clones sprang into existence, all leaping towards Daiichi. His face was pulled in a twisted snarl as his sword flashed around him, easily skewering the clones around him as he moved economically through them.

 _And now I put my training into effect, if it wasn't good enough then I die._

I formed the seal again, "Kage Bunshin!" And a dozen more clones sprung into life.

Daiichi's sword was everywhere, piercing and stabbing and slashing at the clones. A few times he put on a huge burst of speed and pierced one of the clones standing further back in the heart, trying to pick the one that he thought was the original.

However I wasn't just standing at the back, I was ducking and weaving in with the clones as I summoned them in waves. Meanwhile in the background I had devoted a couple of the clones to other tasks…

"Come out and fight me you little shit," Daiichi growled, he grabbed one clone by the neck with his free hand and squeezed until it dispersed. I grinned, the thrill of battle coursing through me despite my nerves. There was nothing quite like adrenaline and chakra coursing through you to make you feel alive, I felt supercharged.

 _Stage 1 - complete._

"Kage Bunshin!"

This time I summoned several dozen clones. A dozen or so immediately rushed Daiichi to engage him whilst the others hung back.

"Henge!"

There was a huge puff of smoke and after Daiichi looked up from clearing out the first dozen, there was a small army of Kabuto's standing back at him.

They all grinned simultaneously, then launched towards him.

"You think that's going to stop me? I know you're just a fucking kid, I'll teach you what happens when you decide to mess with a real ninja."

Daiichi's sword flashed out towards the nearest clone, then his eyes widened in shock as the clone bent completely out of the way of his sword. It swung at him with a heavy punch and he was a fraction too slow in guarding and he took a glancing blow to the temple.

Snarling, he made to swing again but again the clone twisted out the way. From his sides two more clones blurred into range and lashed out with matching kicks that landed like hammers on his chest and back. Jarred, Daiichi coughed and staggered, staring all around him wildly,

"What is this?"

Safe amidst the masses of my shadow clones I smiled.

 _This is Stage 2._

Naruto had been a great ninja but he'd never fully used the shadow clones to their full potential. He could make a literal army of them in the anime, but all he ever seemed to do with them was mob his opponent until they keeled over.

Stage 1 of my strategy was actually to do just that, to send smaller groups of shadow clones wave by wave at an opponent. They would likely be taken down quickly, as Daiichi had done at first, but each wave that went down gave me a better idea of my opponent's style, speed, strength and range. In fact after a few waves of clones it felt like I had been training with them for months and I knew their capabilities quite intimately. In this stage I favoured Lee's straightforward, powerful attacking style to force an opponent to counter attack without holding back against the clones.

Stage 2 was to move on from information gathering to wearing the opponent down by damaging them. The shadow clones dispersed too easily on their own so I had each of them apply a Henge jutsu around themselves to strengthen them. Depending on the opponent, it made them durable enough to at least take a blow or two before dispersing. I also started incorporating some of the moves I had picked up from Sasuke, switching to a high-speed style that utilised more evades and jabs, then capitalising on larger openings with some of Lee's broader, sweeping moves.

So far it was working brilliantly, as I watched my clones ducking and weaving around Daiichi and scoring several hits on him. My speed had improved by leaps and bounds since I'd started training and it was exhilarating to be able to fully cut loose on an opponent.

Daiichi plunged his sword into one of the clones, his facial expression turning from grim satisfaction to horror a moment later as the clone didn't disperse, grinning at him as it gripped the blade with its hand. A moment later three other clones blurred in and struck Daiichi with powerful punches as the one impaled by the sword dispersed, and he coughed up blood.

 _This was easier than I thought. Maybe I've been underselling myself, a bit more of this and he's out for the count. Maybe I should have picked a different target?_

"Raiton - Tsuinboru!"

 _Shit._

Twin balls of lightning shot out from Daiichi and whirled around him in a circle, rotating so fast that it looked like a continuous electrical arc around him. Any clones that approached too close were swiftly dispelled as the balls shot out and ran through them, before returning to spin around Daiichi. He blurred and I felt a sudden sense of dread, I had stopped moving.

"Kawarimi!"

"You're finished!"

There was a searing pain down my side before the world twisted and warped around me. A moment later I was on all fours on the forest floor off to the side, where one of my clones earlier had laid down a handy log. The biggest downside of the Kawarimi jutsu was knowing the exact spatial location and size of the object you wanted to swap with, but with my clones that became a minor inconvenience.

"Kage Bunshin! Henge!"

Another dozen clones popped into existence around me, and this time I applied the Henge to myself as well as them.

 _Stupid, stupid to let my guard down._

I looked up and I saw Daiichi flashing through seals again,

"Raiton - Piasushotto!"

A straight bolt of lightning shot out from his hands and took out a few more of my clones.

 _Time to throw in some other tactics._

I straightened, ignoring the slick feeling of blood down my side, and formed my seal,

"Kage Bunshin!"

Four more clones popped into existence and immediately shot off into the surrounding trees.

Daiichi's sword was flashing everywhere again, trying to cut through the clones that were weaving all around him. They were trying to fight defensively now, stall him while I came up with a plan.

 _His ninjutsu gives him the advantage, that's what I'm missing for my Stage 3._

"Kai," I whispered, releasing one of the clones I'd just summoned. In response, the clones that were weaving around Daiichi suddenly launched themselves forward at him. Taken aback, he was a step slow in responding, bringing his sword around in a wide arc that cut them.

However, each clone channeled as much chakra as they could into the transforms, slowing his sword with each pass-through. As he finished the arc, the three clones that were in the trees body flickered forwards, both arms outstretched in front of them into two fists.

 _Taijutsu - double barreled cannon._

Daiichi managed to jump over one of the clones, planting his sword in the ground firmly beneath him and then using the hilt as a platform to launch himself above the second clone. However the third one had deliberately hung back, and caught him in mid-air. He managed to bring his arms up to bear to shield himself, but the shock of the impact sent him crashing backwards into the ground.

"Kage Bunshin! Henge!" I summoned another dozen clones, then exhaled deeply as my vision blurred slightly. I staggered, clutching my side with a hand that came away bloody.

 _I'm getting tired, I've expended too much chakra with all these high-intensity techniques and I've been bleeding from my neck and side. I need to wrap this up._

The clones surrounded Daiichi and started attacking him from all sides. Without his sword he found it harder to keep them at bay, and they were landing lots more shots than before.

"Raiton - Tsuinboro!"

"Shit," I growled as the balls spun around him again, blue light reflecting in his face. He seemed to be getting tired as well.

"You put up a better fight than I expected, but not in this world will I let a kid like you beat me."

"Say that after you've won," I shot back. Three of the clones fell back in formation with me and I braced myself.

 _I didn't want to but it looks like I'm going to have to use that jutsu...he's pushed me into a corner here._

To use the jutsu though I needed to have both hands on his head for a few seconds. It may not sound too long but in a fight like this a few seconds was an age.

 _I need to immobilise him somehow._

Daiichi blurred towards me and I shouted, "Scatter!" My clones and I flickered away in four different directions and he paused, not sure which one to go for.

"Kage Bunshin!" A clone popped into existence besides me and we both surged forwards. Daiichi gave a primal grin as he launched himself towards us, ignoring the other three clones. I was already flashing through seals though,

"Kawarimi!"

One of the lightning balls, already having shot towards me, smashed through the bark of the log, scattering splinters everywhere. Daiichi reflexively brought his hand up to shield himself, and one of the splinters caught my non-transformed clone, dispelling it in a puff of smoke. #

"Kawarimi!"

Two of my remaining transformed clones launched themselves using the Shunshin towards Daiichi, replacing themselves at the same time, resulting in two large logs being flung towards him at high speed. Again, one of the lightning balls shot out and destroyed them both, spraying chips of wood everywhere.

 _This is the moment._

I pumped chakra through my legs like a piston, blurring in front of Daiichi. From both sides and his back, my clones blurred into position around him.

I could see him hesitate for a moment, then he flashed through hand seals at blinding speed,

"Raiton - Ko den'atsu basuto!"

Blue lightning arcs crawled out from him like spiderwebs, dispelling the two clones on either side of him instantly. I grimmanced as I felt the lightning arc through me, the smell of burning flesh rising up in my nostrils. White-hot pain lanced through me, but just as I was about to pass out the pain stopped.

I looked up at the tip of the blade that was protruding through Daiichi's chest, coming to a stop in front of me. Behind him, my clone grinned at me.

 _It's...over? I won?_

I sagged with relief, my vision darkening rapidly as I fell to my knees. Behind Daiichi, my clone dispersed in a puff of smoke.

 _I really hope...there's some kind of ambulance service….in this world…_

I snorted with laughter, then regretted it instantly as pain lanced through me again. I held up a shaking hand and noted the pattern of the electrical burn marks.

 _Fuck, this is really painful,_ I thought as my eyes watered from the pain.

"As I said, not in this world will a brat like you beat me," a deep voice said maliciously.

Panic stabbed at me like a hot poker as the body of Daiichi in front of me dispersed in a shower of electrical sparks. In its stead, Daiichi stood, looking mockingly down at me.

"L-lightning clone?" I coughed out, he smiled nastily,

"Exactly."

I coughed again, blood spattering down my front, "I've….seen...better."

His hand shot out, gripping around my throat. I gasped, trying to fight against the crushing pressure, but my body was too weak, and his grip felt like an iron vice. I thrashed around, trying to strike him, but he shrugged off the blows, staring intently at me as he choked the life out of me.

 _No no no, I can't die here, this was meant to be my second chance! What was the point of all my training? To die to a no-name?_

My vision was darkening….I could feel my arms hanging limply by my sides. I tried to will them to move but they felt so heavy….I wondered idly what would happen to my clone back in Konoha.

 _I wonder….if I'll wake up again…._ I closed my eyes, or was it just that I could no longer see? _I'm sorry I let you down...whoever gave me this chance._

There was a deep, ominous chuckling sound.

" **Do you want me to lend it to you? My power?"**

Chakra surged through me and I gasped, my eyes forced wide open. It felt like I'd been struck by a bolt of lightning. Strength and power flowed through me, and when I looked into Daiichi's eyes I could see his sudden fear, I could _taste_ it.

He released his grip, pulling his arm back but my hand flashed out and I grabbed his forearm in a crushing grip. Grinning, I slowly squeezed.

Daiichi screamed in my face, trying to push away from me. I could hear the bones snapping underneath my grip, feel each crack as I increased the pressure inexorably.

"What did I tell you?" My voice sounded deeper, more feral. I licked my lips, I'd never felt more alive! I could feel my blood pumping relentlessly through my body, my muscles swelling and bulging with delicious power. It coursed through me, red and vicious, and I delighted in the ease with which I brought Daiichi to heel.

"Only speak after you've won."

"R-raiton - Inazuma," he panted, forming seals with his left hand. His hand lit up with a brilliant, white light that forced me to release my grip as I shielded my eyes. I heard him leap backwards and speak again,

"Raiton-"

"No."

I launched myself forwards towards his voice, the ground cracking underneath me from the force of my foot. I grabbed his head with both of my hands and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Genjutsu - Eternal Night."

* * *

Daiichi woke screaming.

He'd been trapped, trapped in a nightmare. For how long he couldn't say, perhaps it had been hours, or days, or maybe it had just been seconds. He had no sense of time in that awful place; that place where he could see nothing, feel nothing, sense nothing. He hadn't even been able to feel his own body, he had just been adrift in a void of unending blackness.

The tears felt wet on his cheeks as he looked up, greedily drinking in his surroundings. The chill air on his skin, the pain in his right arm, the bright light that assailed his eyes. He let out a choked sob, nothing had ever seemed more beautiful in his life.

There was a muffled noise to his side and his head snapped round. The boy, no, that monster! The monster was standing right there in front of him! It was staring at him, with blue eyes tinged with red. It walked towards him, shredded clothes hanging off of it, its eyes transfixed on his.

Daiichi shrank into himself, only now realising he was tightly bound to a tree. He let out a small whimper as it walked towards him, hating himself for it all the while.

"Please," he whispered, "Don't send me there again. I'll do whatever you want, just-" his voice cracked. It stopped and seemed to look at him appraisingly, its face oddly blank.

"Kage Bunshin," it said quietly, either side of Daiichi two clones sprang into existence. The ropes prevented him from turning his head all the way but he felt them place their hands on his head. His skin crawled at their touch.

"If you make any attempt to escape, it'll take less than 2 seconds for my clones to send you back to that place," It said, "I'll let you go if you agree to help me with something."

Daiichi tried to nod, "Whatever you want I'll help with, just don't become that thing again, or send me back to that…..place," he couldn't bring himself to describe it, to make it real again.

The monster had a strange expression on its face, but it nodded slowly.

"What I want...is for you to teach me how to mould lightning chakra."


End file.
